Rea Takes Victory In Race One At Misano

Kawasaki Racing Team Rider Jonathan Rea took his first race win since round four at Assen in the opening 21-lap FIM Superbike World Championship race at Misano today, holding off his race long companion and team-mate Tom Sykes by only 0.090 seconds over the line. Michael van der Mark (Honda) completed the podium in third place.

 

From the start, and after some of their main rivals had run off track into the first chicane, Rea and Sykes made an escape from their peer group as they kept up a pace that none of their rivals could match.

 

At halfway distance Rea slowed to allow Sykes to take the leading duties but Sykes refused the offer and maintained his track position right behind Rea for all 21 laps, looking for a way past in the final two laps. Unable to find a gap, despite a strong attempt into the penultimate right hand corner, Sykes drew himself from behind Rea’s slipstream to close up to within 0.090 seconds for a class leading 1-2 finish.

 

Rea now has a 61-point lead over his team-mate Sykes in the Championship standings.

 

With the first race of the weekend completed in front-running fashion for Rea he now heads into race two on Sunday full of confidence.

 

Jonathan Rea, stated: “Getting back on the top step was the clear target here, and to get both race wins, so we are halfway to accomplishing that. To be honest it was a little bit surprising how much we struggled towards the end because yesterday our pace was so strong at the end of my long run, staying in the low 1’36 laps. I am not sure how much the track temperature increase has affected us today, because it seems to be a lot. We need to sit down tonight and understand how we need to improve. Tom was strong in some areas of the track, we were strong in some areas of the track, but overall our lap times were quite similar. I am really happy to win again.”

Pole position : Tom Sykes - 1m 34.037 - 161.783 km/h
Fastest lap : Tom Sykes - 1m 35.507 - 159.293 km/h
Circuit record lap : 2015 Jonathan Rea - 1m 34.720 - 160.620 km/h
Circuit Best Lap : 2016 Tom Sykes - 1m 34.037 - 161.780 km/h
Temperature : Air 24°C / Track 43°C
Humidity : 57%
 

Event results - Round 8 - Race 1
1 Jonathan Rea 33m 44.254 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Tom Sykes 0.090 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Michael van der Mark 3.093 NED HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
4 Chaz Davies 5.878 GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
5 Jordi Torres 15.955 ESP BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
6 Markus Reiterberber 18.200 GER BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
7 Niccolo Canepa 19.385 ITA EBR Team Hero EBR
8 Leon Camier 19.918 GBR MV AGUSTA MV Agusta Reparto Corse
9 Roman Ramos 26.272 ESP KAWASAKI Team Go Eleven
10 Anthony West 32.593 AUS KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
11 Joshua Brookes 36.825 AUS BMW Milwaukee BMW
12 Alex De Angelis 37.084 RSM APRILIA IodaRacing Team
13 Alex Lowes 38.181 GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
14 Davide Giugliano 41.201 ITA DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
15 Pawel Szkopek 1m 20.992 POL YAMAHA Team Toth
16 Peter Sebestyen 1m 21.783 HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
17 Dominic Schmitter 1m 24.623 SUI KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
18 Fabio Menghi 1m 25.068 ITA DUCATI VFT Racing
19 Saeed Al Sulaiti 1m 31.041 QAR KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
20 Gianluca Vizziello 1 Lap ITA KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
21 Xavi Fores DNF ESP DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
22 Karel Abraham DNF CZE BMW Milwaukee BMW
23 Nicky Hayden DNF USA HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
24 Lorenzo Savadori DNF ITA APRILIA IodaRacing Team
Championship standings
1 Jonathan Rea 343 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Tom Sykes 277 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Chaz Davies 244 pts GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
4 Davide Giugliano 165 pts ITA DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
5 Michael van der Mark 163 pts NED HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
6 Nicky Hayden 146 pts USA HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
7 Jordi Torres 137 pts ESP BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
8 Leon Camier 105 pts GBR MV AGUSTA MV Agusta Reparto Corse
9 Lorenzo Savadori 96 pts ITA APRILIA IodaRacing Team
10 Alex Lowes 81 pts GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
11 Xavi Fores 75 pts ESP DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
12 Markus Reiterberber 68 pts GER BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
13 Sylvain Guintoli 58 pts FRA YAMAHA Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team
14 Joshua Brookes 55 pts AUS BMW Milwaukee BMW
15 Roman Ramos 53 pts ESP KAWASAKI Team Go Eleven
16 Alex De Angelis 49 pts RSM APRILIA IodaRacing Team
17 Anthony West 39 pts AUS KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
18 Karel Abraham 26 pts CZE BMW Milwaukee BMW
19 Niccolo Canepa 16 pts ITA EBR Team Hero EBR
20 Matteo Baiocco 12 pts ITA DUCATI VFT Racing
21 Lucas Mahias 9 pts FRA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
22 Cameron Beaubier 6 pts USA YAMAHA Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team
23 Luca Scassa 3 pts ITA DUCATI VFT Racing
24 Dominic Schmitter 2 pts SUI KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
25 Sylvain Barrier 2 pts FRA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
26 Mike Jones 2 pts AUS DUCATI Desmo Sport Ducati
27 Josh Hook 2 pts AUS KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
28 Matthieu Lussiana 1 pts FRA BMW Team ASPI
29 Anucha Nakcharoensri 0 pts THA YAMAHA Yamaha Thailand Racing Team
30 Sahustchai Kaewjaturapom 0 pts THA KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
31 Saeed Al Sulaiti 0 pts QAR KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
32 Peter Sebestyen 0 pts HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
33 Pawel Szkopek 0 pts POL YAMAHA Szkopek POLand Position
34 Imre Toth 0 pts HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
35 Gianluca Vizziello 0 pts ITA KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
36 Fabio Menghi 0 pts ITA DUCATI VFT Racing