REA TAKES STRONG RACE ONE PODIUM

Jonathan Rea and his KRT team-mate Alex Lowes ran visually striking special bodywork in the opening WorldSBK race of the San Juan Villicum weekend with Rea finishing second. 

Celebrating the 125th birthday of Kawasaki as a company in an unmissable colourful style Jonathan Rea was to earn a second place finish in Race One at the Argentinean round after 21 intense laps of the 4.276km long circuit.

In the Tissot-Superpole qualifying session on Saturday morning Rea was fifth meaning he lined up on the second row of the grid.

Rea made a very strong start and eased into second place, a position he would occupy for all 21-laps as his championship rival Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) took the race win.

Jonathan Rea said: “The good news for us is that we made the SCX super-soft tyre work for all the race. It was quite consistent, my rhythm was strong and it caused me no problems in the front. That bodes well for Sunday. We will try to make a few extra steps and we can try to get a little bit closer. We need some small tweaks. The special livery is nice - I am loving the get-up! I wish I could use it for the rest of the season because they are quite cool colours, with the green and the blue. I think we will revert back to our old faithful tomorrow and try to enjoy the two races here and get another bag of points.”