Rea And New Ninja ZX-10R Win First Race Of 2016

Official KRT rider Jonathan Rea took a thrilling victory in the 22-lap Saturday race in round one of the FIM Superbike World Championship on the all-new Ninja ZX-10R at Phillip Island today.  Rea edged out a close challenge from Chaz Davies (Ducati) in the final lap with Michael Van Der Mark (Honda) completing the podium places.  Team-mate Tom Sykes finished close behind in fifth place.

 

In Superpole 2, held a few hours earlier, Sykes had qualified on pole with Rea in third place.  The Kawasaki pairing did the early running up front, with Rea then Sykes and then Rea again leading every one of the 22 laps. With up to nine riders forming one leading group and podium challengers all around right to the end the pressure was intense throughout, with Rea finally winning by resisting the late challenge of Davies.

 

‘JR’ was passed for a short time after Davies had went inside at the MG hairpin. Jonathan chose the best exit line to ensure Davies could not stay in front at the exit of the corner and won by 0.063 seconds. This was his 30th career win in this category.

 

The second race of the weekend will take place at 3pm local time in Australia on Sunday 28th.

 

Jonathan Rea stated: “We expected to be strong because I am so lucky with Pere and my guys. I put all my trust in them, we made a strategy for the winter tests in November and it is clear that it worked. To be strong in the race, to control the race from the front at this track, is so difficult. I had a look every lap on the big screen at MG and I could see the size of the group at the front. It eventually dropped to four guys and in the end three. I put my head down with six laps to go and upped the pace but it was still ‘+0’ on my pit board. Then with three to go I made another push and Chaz was still there. I knew the only way to win the race was to close the door at MG, but he blew it completely wide open! I managed to stop the bike and fire it out. It was not a very pretty last sector but we won the race and have 25 points. I am really happy because all our work paid off.”

Pole position : Tom Sykes - 1m 30.020 - 177.760 km/h
Fastest lap : Davide Giugliano - 1m 33.445 - 174.990 km/h
Circuit record lap : 2014 - Chaz Davies - 1m 30.949 km/h
Circuit Best Lap : 2016 - Tom Sykes - 1m 30.020 - 177.760 km/h
Temperature : Air 22°C / Track 36°C
Humidity : 68% 

Event results - Round 1 - Race 1
1 Jonathan Rea 33m 47.823 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Chaz Davies 0.063 GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
3 Michael van der Mark 0.487 NED HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
4 Davide Giugliano 0.647 ITA DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
5 Tom Sykes 3.429 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
6 Sylvain Guintoli 3.510 FRA YAMAHA Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team
7 Leon Camier 10.721 GBR MV AGUSTA MV Agusta Reparto Corse
8 Jordi Torres 11.539 ESP BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
9 Nicky Hayden 15.534 USA HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
10 Joshua Brookes 23.239 AUS BMW Milwaukee BMW
11 Roman Ramos 23.411 ESP KAWASAKI Team Go Eleven
13 Karel Abraham 37.281 CZE BMW Milwaukee BMW
14 Mike Jones 44.720 AUS DUCATI Desmo Sport Ducati
15 Sylvain Barrier 46.357 FRA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
16 Dominic Schmitter 1m 08.238 SUI KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
17 Saeed Al Sulaiti 1m 08.299 QAR KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
18 Peter Sebestyen 1m 30.771 HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
19 Imre Toth 1 Lap HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
20 Markus Reiterberber DNF GER BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
21 Alex Lowes DNF GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
22 Xavi Fores DNF ESP DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
23 Alex De Angelis DNF RSM APRILIA IodaRacing Team

 

Championship standings
1 Jonathan Rea 50 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Michael van der Mark 36 pts NED HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
3 Davide Giugliano 29 pts ITA DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
4 Chaz Davies 26 pts GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
5 Sylvain Guintoli 21 pts FRA YAMAHA Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team
6 Tom Sykes 21 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
7 Nicky Hayden 20 pts USA HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
8 Jordi Torres 17 pts ESP BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
9 Joshua Brookes 13 pts AUS BMW Milwaukee BMW
10 Leon Camier 9 pts GBR MV AGUSTA MV Agusta Reparto Corse
11 Roman Ramos 9 pts ESP KAWASAKI Team Go Eleven
12 Karel Abraham 8 pts CZE BMW Milwaukee BMW
13 Markus Reiterberber 8 pts GER BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
14 Alex De Angelis 3 pts RSM APRILIA IodaRacing Team
15 Alex Lowes 2 pts GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
16 Sylvain Barrier 2 pts FRA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
17 Mike Jones 2 pts AUS DUCATI Desmo Sport Ducati
18 Dominic Schmitter 0 pts SUI KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
19 Saeed Al Sulaiti 0 pts QAR KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
20 Peter Sebestyen 0 pts HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
21 Imre Toth 0 pts HUN YAMAHA Team Toth