Jonathan Rea made WorldSBK history in race one at Brno, claiming a record 60th career victory in the Czech Republic. The Ulsterman led the entirety of a race which had to be restarted twice, taking him past Carl Fogarty as the rider with the most victories in World Superbike Championship history.
Records had already been set earlier in the day with Tom Sykes claiming a yet another pole position. The Yorkshireman extended his own record by topping Superpole for the 45th time with Rea a close second but the two Kawasakis would soon swap places once the race got underway, Rea outdragging Sykes on the approach to turn one.
The reigning champion was already starting to make an escape by lap four when the race was halted by a red flag, Michael Ruben Rinaldi having crashed his Aruba Ducati at turn five and punctured the air fence. After a quick restart, the riders lined up in their original grid positions but a malfunction with the start lights forced another delay, reducing the eventual race distance to 16 laps.
Once the action finally got underway again, Rea picked up where he had left off, blasting past Sykes on the approach to turn three on the opening lap before streaking into the distance, eventually taking his record-breaking win by 5.3s from Marco Melandri who got the better of Sykes for second.
Donington double winner Michael van der Mark finished fourth to secure pole position for race two while Alex Lowes finished close behind his team-mate in fifth. The Aprilias of Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori were sixth and seventh ahead of an off-form Chaz Davies while Leon Camier and Toprak Razgatlioglu completed the top ten.
WorldSBK 2018: Acerbis Czech Round: Race One
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