Podium Place For Rea In Race One At Imol

Jonathan Rea finished on the podium once more at Imola today.  The Kawasaki Racing Team rider, and current World Champion, took second place in Race One of Round Five in the FIM Superbike World Championship.  The race was won by Chaz Davies (Ducati) with team-mate Tom Sykes finish in third.

Rea now takes a 40-point championship lead into the second race on Sunday, after a tough but rewarding battle around the undulating circuit in Italy.

At the start Rea and Sykes formed an early top three with eventual race winner Chaz Davies, with Rea continuing to keep pace just behind Davies as he pushed hard while the race developed.

 

‘JR’ was forced to drop back as he was experiencing an electronics issue under braking. At one point he ran wide and off track at turn 7, but rejoined, without losing a place, just in front of his chasing team-mate Sykes.  By the chequered flag Rea was a slim 0.323s ahead of Sykes to take second place.

Rea and the Kawasaki Racing Team now have a day to prepare for the second Imola race, which may be held in less favourable weather conditions than the dry first race day. Rea feels there are areas for improvement in machine set-up as he now aims to take top spot in race two.

 

Jonathan Rea stated: “In the beginning I felt good with Chaz and I managed to close the gap down to him. We have had some issues on the engine brake side and this caused me to run on. It was happening into the fast turn five and it took my confidence a little but. When I made the mistake the gap changed. I am happy with my race because second is good as Chaz was on a different planet this morning. I was just happy to be there in the race at the beginning. I was the best of the rest today and now I’m happy to look forward to tomorrow, as I am sure we can improve the bike setup. I hear some mixed weather forecasts, and that we could have some rain, so I hope we can be prepared for whatever we get.”

Pole position : Chaz Davies - 1m 45.598 - 168.276 km/h
Fastest lap : Chaz Davies - 1m 46.700 - 166.538 km/h
Circuit record lap : 2015 Tom Sykes - 1m 46.707 - 166.538 km/h
Circuit Best Lap : 2016 Chaz Davies - 1m 45.598 - 168.280 km/h
Temperature : Air 20°C / Track 32°C
Humidity : 42%

Event results - Round 5 - Race 1
1 Chaz Davies 32m 15.999 GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
2 Jonathan Rea 3.406 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Tom Sykes 3.729 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Jordi Torres 13.631 ESP BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
5 Davide Giugliano 19.948 ITA DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
6 Leon Camier 25.586 GBR MV AGUSTA MV Agusta Reparto Corse
7 Michael van der Mark 27.262 NED HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
8 Lorenzo Savadori 28.300 ITA APRILIA IodaRacing Team
9 Nicky Hayden 29.263 USA HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
10 Xavi Fores 29.426 ESP DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
11 Alex Lowes 29.622 GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
12 Matteo Baiocco 30.005 ITA DUCATI VFT Racing
13 Markus Reiterberber 34.667 GER BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
14 Joshua Brookes 57.050 AUS BMW Milwaukee BMW
15 Alex De Angelis 1m 03.267 RSM APRILIA IodaRacing Team
16 Karel Abraham 1m 14.668 CZE BMW Milwaukee BMW
17 Josh Hook 1m 50.796 AUS KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
18 Pawel Szkopek 2 Laps POL YAMAHA Szkopek POLand Position
19 Saeed Al Sulaiti DNF QAR KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
20 Dominic Schmitter DNF SUI KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
21 Peter Sebestyen DNF HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
Championship standings
1 Jonathan Rea 221 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Chaz Davies 186 pts GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
3 Tom Sykes 154 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Michael van der Mark 106 pts NED HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
5 Davide Giugliano 88 pts ITA DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
6 Jordi Torres 87 pts ESP BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
7 Nicky Hayden 82 pts USA HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
8 Leon Camier 60 pts GBR MV AGUSTA MV Agusta Reparto Corse
9 Lorenzo Savadori 60 pts ITA APRILIA IodaRacing Team
10 Alex Lowes 59 pts GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
11 Sylvain Guintoli 58 pts FRA YAMAHA Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team
12 Xavi Fores 49 pts ESP DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
13 Markus Reiterberber 47 pts GER BMW Althea BMW Racing Team
14 Roman Ramos 36 pts ESP KAWASAKI Team Go Eleven
15 Alex De Angelis 32 pts RSM APRILIA IodaRacing Team
16 Joshua Brookes 30 pts AUS BMW Milwaukee BMW
17 Karel Abraham 14 pts CZE BMW Milwaukee BMW
18 Matteo Baiocco 12 pts ITA DUCATI VFT Racing
19 Lucas Mahias 9 pts FRA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
20 Mike Jones 2 pts AUS DUCATI Desmo Sport Ducati
21 Sylvain Barrier 2 pts FRA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
22 Dominic Schmitter 1 pts SUI KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
23 Matthieu Lussiana 1 pts FRA BMW Team ASPI
24 Anucha Nakcharoensri 0 pts THA YAMAHA Yamaha Thailand Racing Team
25 Sahustchai Kaewjaturapom 0 pts THA KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
26 Saeed Al Sulaiti 0 pts QAR KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
27 Peter Sebestyen 0 pts HUN YAMAHA Team Toth
28 Pawel Szkopek 0 pts POL YAMAHA Szkopek POLand Position
29 Josh Hook 0 pts AUS KAWASAKI Grillini SBK Team
30 Imre Toth 0 pts HUN YAMAHA Team Toth