Alvaro Bautista has backed up his victory in the opening race of the Superbike world championship by winning the inaugural sprint race format.

The Spaniard did not have it all his own way in Sunday’s historic 10-lap race but the Kawasaki rookie managed to hold off the challenge of Kawasaki pair Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam.

Rea led over the line on the opening two laps and then edged his way in front a few more times before Bautista eventually gained control.

Bautista won by 1.176sec over Rea, with Haslam another four seconds arrears in third.

The Yamahas of Alex Lowes, Michael van der Mark, Melandri and rookie Sandro Cortese were next best.

Australia’s Troy Herfosson his Honda was 16th.

The inaugural short-format race provided plenty of excitement with the existing lap record smashed 17 times – Bautista and Rea both six times, and Haslam five times.

“I enjoyed today’s race more than yesterday because I had a good battle with Johnny,” Bautista said.

“I expected a strong fight, and the pace was very strong because we didn’t need to worry about tyre consumption.”

The third and final Superbike race of the Phillip Island leg of the world championship, in the traditional 22-lap format, will start at 1500 AEDT.