Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea Takes His 101st Race Victory In Sketchy Conditions.

The Spanish circuit of Aragon was providing changeable racing conditions for the World Superbike paddock with a wet morning warm-up session meaning it would be sketchy conditions for the Sprint race. The grid positions were as they were for Race one yesterday with Kawasaki Racing’s Jonathan Rea on pole, with Britain’s Scott Redding and Tom Sykes joining Rea on the front row.

As the lights went green on the damp Spanish circuit it was Jonathan Rea and Aruba.IT Racing’s Scott Redding who were side-by-side into turn one, with Alex Lowes on their tail, it was Rea who got the better of Scott Redding to lead the race leaving Redding and Lowes fighting for second position, towards the end of the first lap Rea ran wide and slipped back to third position. Lower down the field Kawasaki Puccetti Racing’s Lucas Mahias crashed out on his first lap.

BMW’s Tom Sykes made a good start but started to slip backwards as a wrong tyre choice was coming into play for the British rider, as it was the same situation for fellow Brit Scott Redding, Scott looked to be furious with himself for choosing the full wet tyre option as it was the intermediate tyres that seemed to be working the best in the sketchy track conditions.

Rea made it back to first place with team-mate Lowes behind in second place, there was five-way battle for sixth position between the two Team HRC riders, Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW’s Tom Sykes and Michael Van Der Mark. Towards the sharp end GRT Yamaha’s Garrett Gerloff had got to third position. Tom Sykes’s tyre choice finally got the better of him as he pulled into the pits but that wasn’t the case for his new team-mate as Van Der Mark put the fastest time of the race in after five laps with a time of 1:58.003.

Scott Redding’s woes continued as he was dropping down the order which would mean a poor grid position for the next race. Mean while the Kawasaki riders Rea and Lowes were heading to the chequered flag with Garrett Gerloff in third place. Team Goeleven’s Chaz Davies finished in fourth place with Michael Van Der Mark rounding off the top five positions. Rookie rider GRT Yamaha’s Kohta Nozane had a good race finishing in ninth position just in front of Britiain’s Leon Haslam.

The World Superbike riders will be hoping for more settled conditions for this afternoons race as tyres really played a big part in the finishing results of the Sprint race today, will the Irish reigning Champion Jonathan Rea make it victory number 102? Race Two of the weekend is today at 1pm GMT+1.

Grid No. Rider Nat Team Bike Class LL Gap Rel. Fastest Lap Speed Qualifying Speed
1 1 1 J. REA GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR 10 1’56.899 306,8 1’48.458 308,6
2 4 22 A. LOWES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR 10 3.506 3.506 1’56.486 305,1 1’48.890 312,1
3 6 31 G. GERLOFF USA GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 IND 10 5.051 1.545 1’56.886 305,1 1’49.185 311,2
4 5 7 C. DAVIES GBR Team GoEleven Ducati Panigale V4 R IND 10 8.908 3.857 1’57.759 307,7 1’49.069 311,2
5 15 60 M. VAN DER MARK NED BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW M 1000 RR 10 10.175 1.267 1’56.261 309,5 1’50.189 317,6
6 10 54 T. RAZGATLIOGLU TUR Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha YZF R1 10 29.342 19.167 1’59.869 310,3 1’49.704 314,0
7 8 19 A. BAUTISTA ESP Team HRC Honda CBR1000 RR-R 10 29.565 0.223 1’59.993 314,0 1’49.338 318,6
8 2 45 S. REDDING GBR Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Ducati Panigale V4 R 10 33.361 3.796 2’00.753 309,5 1’48.733 316,7
9 16 3 K. NOZANE JPN GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 IND 10 33.675 0.314 2’00.150 303,4 1’50.435 309,5
10 7 91 L. HASLAM GBR Team HRC Honda CBR1000 RR-R 10 34.771 1.096 2’00.741 313,0 1’49.246 313,0

Featured Image: WorldSBK.com