Jonathan Rea remains on course to break the all-time WorldSBK points record for a single season after winning both races at Jerez last weekend. The Ulsterman has now won 14 out of a possible 24 races in 2017 and another double at the season finale in Qatar will see him break Colin Edwards’ fifteen-year old record.
Rea’s opening win owed a lot to good fortune after polesitter Marco Melandri suffered a technical failure when the Italian was within sight of victory. Rea thus inherited the victory, his first ever success around Jerez, with Chaz Davies and Tom Sykes completing a familiar looking podium. Alex Lowes took fourth for Yamaha, earning him pole position for race two, but that advantage wouldn’t prove enough to see him better that result on Sunday.
Instead, Lowes was treated to another Rea masterclass in traffic as the newly-crowned three-times champion sliced his way through from ninth on the grid to first by the end of lap one. Jonathan was never headed and his second win of the weekend would secure the Manufacturers Championship for Kawasaki. Melandri went some way to atoning for his Saturday misfortune by claiming second while Davies, who was taken out by Eugene Laverty on lap one only to be rescued by a red flag, rounded out the rostrum.
Lowes backed up his race one result with another solid fourth with Sykes finishing fifth, meaning he will head into the final round at Losail dead-level on points with Davies in the fight to finish championship runner-up. Elsewhere, Michael van der Mark geared up for his MotoGP debut at Sepang with a pair of top six results while 2014 champion Sylvain Guintoli marked his return with Puccetti Kawasaki by finishing sixth in race one.
WorldSBK 2017: Riders’ Championship Standings (24/26)
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WorldSBK 2017: Manufacturers’ Championship Standings (24/26)
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