SBK Misano – Jonathan Rea does the double again

Bruno Gomes

July 9, 2018

Jonathan Rea and the Kawasaki Racing Team continue to dominate in the World Superbike, and this time it was impossible to beat Rea and his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR at Misano, even though Tom Sykes snatched pole position from his teammate.

In Race 1, Rea got the best start possible and by turn 1 he was already in front of Tom Sykes. The triple world champion was the only one managing 1m34s lap times, and that allowed him to open up a gap to the following group.

From then on, Jonathan Rea continued to increase his lead, and crossed the line well ahead of everyone else.

In the pursuers group it was time for Chaz Davies to make a good recovery. The Ducati rider started from seventh on the grid, but after a good first couple of laps he was ready to fight for the podium. Davies didn’t have too much trouble passing by podium contenders like Michael van der Mark (Yamaha), Tom Sykes or even a surprising Eugene Laverty (Aprilia), and so he finished second bringing along Laverty, who ended up third in Misano, a very nice result for his Milwaukee Aprilia team that still doesn’t know if Aprilia will continue involved in World SBK or if they will change to BMW next season.

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In Race 2, Jonathan Rea had to work hard for the win. Starting from the middle of the grid, the Kawasaki rider had to fight with Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri while he chased also Tom Sykes, but the reigning champion, after a couple of ambitious moves, passed all his rivals and was then locked in a fight with race leader Michael van der Mark.

With Melandri also joining the fight for the win, it was an all-out battle between the three riders.

With three laps to go Jonathan Rea made his move: he feinted a pass on turn 1 and then tried the inside move through turn 2, and with Van der Mark defending his line in turn 1 and unable to do the same in the next corner, Rea made the pass stick and from then on he cruised to victory.

Michael van der Mark couldn’t answer back to Rea but still had something in him and his Yamaha R1 to hold Melandri behind, and so the PATA Yamaha rider finished second ahead of the Aruba.it Ducati, with Melandri returning to the podium in Misano.

With these results, Jonathan Rea opens up a 92-point gap over Chaz Davies in the championship standings, a very comfortable lead when we have reached the two-month Summer break.