Rea Makes It A Hat Trick Of Victories In Thailand

Jonathan Rea took victory today at a warm and humid Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand, making it three wins from three races at the beginning of the 2016 FIM World Superbike Championship.  Rea took victory from Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes by a slim 0.222 seconds with pole-sitter, Michael van der Mark (Honda) finishing in third place.

 

With high air temperatures of 34°C during the race at the 4.554km long circuit it proved physically hard work for all, but it was the KRT pairing who held the advantage after all the laps had been completed.  Rea had led off the line but was passed by Sykes early in the race.  With a few laps remaining Rea managed to take back the lead and held on by the slimmest of margins to continue the perfect start to his title defence.

 

Despite the slippery track surface in some areas, causing the riders to take unusual lines at those points, Rea’s race time was better than his equivalent 2015 season win. He set the fastest lap of the race on lap 14, as he chased down Sykes.

 

Both Kawasaki riders feel that there are even more improvements to come from their Ninja ZX-10R machines over race distance for race two tomorrow.  The race will take place at the same time 16:00 (GMT +7).

 

Jonathan Rea stated: “The pace was fast; I did not expect it to be so fast as all weekend we have been slower than last year. So it was a good, fast race. I put my head down and with four laps to go I got a small gap of about 0.7 or 0.8 seconds on Tom. On the final laps I got caught out in the first turn by another rider but it was not so much. I had done all my work by then as I had completely emptied my tank with about four laps to go to try and get away. I am a little bit tired now because I went full gas in those last four laps. We were able to capitalise on that work and I feel like I rode for a stronger win than I have had for a long time. Tomorrow, I expect my bike set-up will be much stronger.”

 

Pole position : Michael van der Mark - 1m 33.452 - 175.431 km/h
Fastest lap : Jonathan Rea - 1m 33.936 - 174.527 km/h
Circuit record lap : 2015 Jonathan Rea - 1m 33.817 - 174.750 km/h
Circuit Best Lap : 2015 Jonathan Rea - 1m 33.382 - 175.560 km/h
Temperature : Air 34°C / Track 42°C
Humidity : 51% 

Event results - Round 2 - Race 1
1 Jonathan Rea 31m 32.311 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Tom Sykes 0.222 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Michael van der Mark 9.623 NED HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
4 Chaz Davies 17.167 GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
5 Markus Reiterberber 18.894 GER BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
6 Alex Lowes 20.754 GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
7 Sylvain Guintoli 24.211 FRA YAMAHA Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team
8 Jordi Torres 31.064 ESP BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
9 Alex De Angelis 34.348 RSM APRILIA IodaRacing Team
10 Lorenzo Savadori 34.479 ITA APRILIA IodaRacing Team
11 Leon Camier 37.013 GBR MV AGUSTA MV Agusta Reparto Corse
12 Roman Ramos 41.113 ESP KAWASAKI Team Go Eleven
13 Matteo Baiocco 44.369 ITA DUCATI VFT Racing
14 Xavi Fores 45.053 ESP DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
15 Joshua Brookes 51.939 AUS BMW Milwaukee BMW
16 Sylvain Barrier 54.314 FRA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
17 Saeed Al Sulaiti 1m 06.541 QAR KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
18 Davide Giugliano 1m 09.530 ITA DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
19 Dominic Schmitter 1m 40.904 SUI KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
20 Peter Sebestyen 1 Lap HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
21 Sahustchai Kaewjaturapom 1 Lap THA KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
22 Imre Toth 1 Lap HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
23 Anucha Nakcharoensri 3 Laps THA YAMAHA Yamaha Thailand Racing Team
24 Karel Abraham DNF CZE BMW Milwaukee BMW
25 Nicky Hayden DNF USA HONDA Honda World Superbike Team

 

Championship standings
1 Jonathan Rea 95 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Tom Sykes 66 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Michael van der Mark 65 pts NED HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
4 Chaz Davies 55 pts GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
5 Sylvain Guintoli 40 pts FRA YAMAHA Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team
6 Davide Giugliano 35 pts ITA DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
7 Jordi Torres 33 pts ESP BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
8 Nicky Hayden 31 pts USA HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
9 Markus Reiterberber 28 pts GER BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
10 Leon Camier 19 pts GBR MV AGUSTA MV Agusta Reparto Corse
11 Roman Ramos 17 pts ESP KAWASAKI Team Go Eleven
12 Joshua Brookes 14 pts AUS BMW Milwaukee BMW
13 Lorenzo Savadori 13 pts ITA APRILIA IodaRacing Team
14 Alex De Angelis 12 pts RSM APRILIA IodaRacing Team
15 Alex Lowes 12 pts GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
16 Karel Abraham 9 pts CZE BMW Milwaukee BMW
17 Matteo Baiocco 6 pts ITA DUCATI VFT Racing
18 Mike Jones 2 pts AUS DUCATI Desmo Sport Ducati
19 Xavi Fores 2 pts ESP DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
20 Sylvain Barrier 2 pts FRA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
21 Anucha Nakcharoensri 0 pts THA YAMAHA Yamaha Thailand Racing Team
22 Sahustchai Kaewjaturapom 0 pts THA KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
23 Saeed Al Sulaiti 0 pts QAR KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
24 Peter Sebestyen 0 pts HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
25 Imre Toth 0 pts HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
26 Dominic Schmitter 0 pts SUI KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team