Johnathan Rea takes his first race win of the season in scorching Thai heat at Chang International Circuit closing to within 2 points of the championship leader Marco Melandri.
The front row was made up of reigning champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), followed by teammate Tom Sykes and perhaps the surprise on the front row Redbull Honda Superbike Teams Leon Camier locking out the front row, one of the other surprises of the Superpole 2 was Mv Augusta’s Jordi Torres securing 4th place on the grid, before race start most riders sat by pit wall in the shade out of the scorching Thai heat.
As the race got underway the Kawasaki Racing Team pair spent the first 3 laps trading the lead several times the leading group was made up of the first 9 riders consisting of 5 different manufactures, directly behind the KRT pair was Redbull Honda’s Leon Camier. As Tom Sykes made a mistake into turn 2 Leon Camier capitalised and took second position from the Yorkshire-man who started to fade as the race progressed and eventually finishing sixth place behind the Pata Yamaha of Alex Lowes who rode a quiet race to fifth with teammate Micheal Van Der Mark finishing just behind Sykes securing seventh place.
Camier continued to hold on to second place before the late charging Javier Fores aboard his Barni Racing Team Ducati mad a move into turn 2, once in second place Fores set his sites firmly on Johnathan Rea with the aim of taking his maiden victory in the Superbike class making small impressions into the Ulsterman keeping him honest all the way to the finish, Johanthan Rea saying in a post race interview with Eurosport “All I kept seeing was Fores +1.5 every lap so I knew I couldn’t make a mistake”.
Chaz Davies made a move on Leon Camier in the closing stages of the race to secure third place in the race closely behind Javier Fores.
The biggest surprise of the afternoon was Phillip Island double race winner Marco Melandri only managing to finishing 8th after a crash in superpole, there has not yet been any explanation as to why both Tom Sykes and Marco Melandri was unable to keep up with pace of the front runners.
Tomorrows race looks to be a mouth watering prospect with the reverse grid rules putting Leon Camier on pole with Alex Lowes and Tom Sykes in second and third respectively with today’s race winner starting ninth.
Race 1 Full Results:
1 1 1 J. REA GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR 31″24.203
2 5 12 X. FORES ESP Barni Racing Team Ducati Panigale R IND +1.550
3 9 7 C. DAVIES GBR Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Ducati Panigale R +2.118
4 3 2 L. CAMIER GBR Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team Honda CBR1000RR +2.981
5 6 22 A. LOWES GBR Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 +7.258
6 2 66 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR +7.501
7 10 60 M. VAN DER MARK NED Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 +8.500
8 7 33 M. MELANDRI ITA Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Ducati Panigale R +10.184
9 8 50 E. LAVERTY IRL Milwaukee Aprilia Aprilia RSV4 RF +11.072
10 4 81 J. TORRES ESP MV Agusta Reparto Corse MV Agusta 1000 F4 +11.178
11 15 76 L. BAZ FRA GULF ALTHEA BMW Racing Team BMW S 1000 RR +24.062
12 11 32 L. SAVADORI ITA Milwaukee Aprilia Aprilia RSV4 RF +24.632
13 13 36 L. MERCADO ARG Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki ZX-10RR IND +26.114
14 16 40 R. RAMOS ESP Team GoEleven Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-10RR IND +26.142
15 12 54 T. RAZGATLIOGLU TUR Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki ZX-10RR IND +26.320
16 18 68 Y. HERNANDEZ COL Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki ZX-10RR IND +30.665
17 17 99 P. JACOBSEN USA TripleM Honda World Superbike Team Honda CBR1000RR IND +32.625
18 14 45 J. GAGNE USA Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team Honda CBR1000RR +38.752
————————————————–Not Classified————————————————–
RET 19 37 O. JEZEK CZE Guandalini Racing Yamaha YZF R1 IND +4 Laps
