WSBK: Rea Strikes Back with Aragon Superpole Race Win

Jonathan Rea maintained his 100% Superpole Race record this season with a comfortable win in Aragon.

Championship leader Scott Redding emerged best of the race and finished in runner-up position ahead of Michael van der Mark who completed the podium in a lonely third place.

Despite losing out to Rea in the race, Redding still holds top of the table by a single point. Toprak Razgatlioglu in third is 50 points adrift of the Brit and is coming under increased pressure from Chaz Davies and Michael van der Mark who both sit 16 points behind him.

Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) took the holeshot from the front of the grid but was immediately beaten to the lead by Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) at Turn 2.

The race turned dramatic when Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) clipped Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) going into the reversed corkscrew. Sykes ran well wide and when he rejoined the circuit, he collected Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Racing). The Argentinian rider came off his bike and was left stranded on the track between Turns 10 and 11, but mercifully all riders managed to avoid him.

Mercado was stretchered off the circuit and taken to the medical centre where he was subsequently declared unfit due to a left ankle sprain and a suspected cervical strain. Sykes meanwhile was able to continue and though the incident was placed under investigation, no further action was taken. Davies escaped the contact with the BMW without significant damage done to his bike but with all the work to do to replicate his Race 1 podium finish.

The back of the field was left dispersed as multiple riders left the track to avoid Mercado and lost ground. Out front, Rea led the pack over the line for the first time ahead of Baz, Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing Ducati), Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team), the two Pata Yamahas of Michael van der Mark and Toprak Razgatlioglu and the Team HRC riders Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam.

Van der Mark looked confident in the morning’s cooler conditions and dived down Lowes’s inside at Turn 1 going into the second lap. Lowes tried everything to hang on to his position, but the Yamaha was through for good at Turn 2. Davies meanwhile proved his strong Aragon pace and sweeped past Haslam down the back straight on Lap 4.

Reigning world champion Rea swiftly pulled the pin and had put a comfortable gap between himself and Baz with four laps gone. While the Frenchman had been able to cling on to Rea during the opening laps, he gradually started to lose pace.

Redding launched a first attack on Baz at the end of the back straight on Lap 5 but was not quite close enough. At Turn 1, however, Baz had to surrender his position to the superior Ducati and fell into the clutches of van der Mark. The Dutchman did not waste time and claimed third at Turn 2. Baz looked in serious trouble and now came under pressure from Lowes who took his chance down the back straight and moved past the Yamaha, meaning Baz lost three positions over the course of just one lap.

Rea was already in cruise control out front while Redding and van der Mark had also broken away from the pack and were running lonely in the podium positions. Behind them though, the pack was bunching up.

Bautista launched an attack on Razgatlioglu going into Lap 7 and the riders sweeped through Turns 1 to 3 side by side, but the Turk managed to stay ahead. Baz suffered a massive moment between Turns 14 and 15 that saw the front and rear of his Yamaha shaking. The resulting poor acceleration going on the back straight allowed Razgatlioglu to pass him with ease, but both Yamahas were made to look stationary when Bautista flew past them with the Honda’s horsepower. The Spaniard had found great rhythm late in the race and was now all over Lowes for fourth.

Unimpressed by the battles behind him, Rea took the chequered flag first and maintained his 100% record in the Superpole Races this season. The podium positions were already settled as well as Redding crossed the line 2.6 seconds later to secure runner-up and stay ahead in the championship table. Van der Mark came home another 1.4 seconds later for his first podium of the weekend.

Further behind the fight for positions kept raving on over the final laps. Going into the penultimate lap Bautista claimed Lowes for fourth at Turn 1 while Davies dived past Baz at Turn 2 to take seventh. While Baz now found himself under pressure from Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven), who had closed in on the group during the final stages of the race, Davies’ late comeback was far from over as he moved ahead of Razgatlioglu down the back straight.

Bautista hung on to fourth and thereby secured his best finish of the season as well as Honda’s best result since 2018 when Leon Camier took fourth in Buriram Race 1. Davies pounced on the last lap and moved past Lowes down the back straight to finish in fifth. While he could not replicate yesterday’s podium finish in the 10-lap sprint race, the Ducati rider brought himself in a significantly better starting position for Race 2.

Razgatlioglu came home in seventh while behind him, Rinaldi claimed Baz for eighth down the back straight on the final lap and the Frenchman had to settle for the final point on offer in ninth.

Just outside the points ranks, Haslam rounded out the top 10 ahead of Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) and Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) finished 11^th from Maximilian Scheib (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) and Sykes who was the last rider to finish in the top 15.

Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) came home in 16^th ahead of Marco Melandri (Barni Racing Team), Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance) and replacement rider Roman Ramos (Outdo Kawasaki TPR) while the MIE Racing Althea Hondas of Takumi Takahashi and Lorenzo Gabellini were last to finish the race.

Mercado and Christophe Ponsson (Nuova M2 Racing) did not take the chequered flag.