WSBK: Redding Reclaims Championship Lead with Aragon Race 1 Win

The WorldSBK championship lead changed hands as Scott Redding claimed his third win of the season at Aragon and moved back into the driving seat.

Chaz Davies made up seven positions to secure a Ducati 1-2 finish ahead of Jonathan Rea who had to settle for third after a long battle with the Ducatis.

Redding now leads the championship by five points over Rea. Toprak Razgatlioglu sits third but is already 44 points adrift of Redding.

Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing) stole the holeshot from second on the grid and led into the first corner ahead of Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) while Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) dropped down to fourth from pole.

Positions changed numerous times on a frantic opening lap and while Lowes took the lead, Rea was swiftly moving up the order. The reigning world champion claimed his teammate at Turn 12 and led the pack over the line for the first time, Redding, Baz and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) trailing the two Kawasakis.

While a leading group of five formed out front, Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) executed a clean block-pass on Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) at Turn 1 on the third lap to head the chasing group. The Aragon record winner had all the work to do after a poor qualifying, but once he had clear air in front of him, he was the fastest rider on track.

As Davies was edging ever closer to the chasing group, positions changed out front. Going into the fourth lap, van der Mark claimed Baz at Turn 1 for fourth while Redding utilised the straight line speed of the Ducati and lunged down Lowes’ inside at the end of the back straight to move up into second.

Davies broke into the chasing group on Lap 5 when he took fifth off Baz and had his next target in van der Mark right ahead of him. Rea, Redding and Lowes had meanwhile broken away at the front and turned it into a close three horse race for the lead.

The trio, however, turned into a duo at Turn 3 when Lowes’ race was prematurely ended by a big highside. Both, rider and bike, were stranded on the track, but mercifully, everyone escaped unscathed. Lowes’ exit briefly promoted van der Mark into a podium position which he immediately had to surrender to Davies and the superior Ducati power at Turn 16.

Redding started to apply pressure on Rea and dived down the Kawasaki’s inside at Turn 1 with 11 laps remaining to claim the lead for the first time in the race. Davies had pulled away from van der Mark and gradually reduced the gap to the leaders while behind them, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven) found great rhythm and had moved ahead of Baz and Razgatlioglu who both also fell victim to Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) at the end of Lap 9.

Bautista’s race was over on Lap 13 though when he crashed at Turn 5 and recorded HRC’s first non-finish of the season. Rinaldi meanwhile had broken away from Baz and Razgatlioglu and was getting closer and closer to van der Mark.

Redding yet again faced trouble stopping his Ducati, particularly at the reversed corkscrew, and, despite a lot of movement on the bike, Rea’s Kawasaki had the superior corner speed. Rea did not let his opponent off the hook, but with the horsepower advantage on his side, Redding looked in control of his position.

Rea started to attack on Lap 14 but failed to execute a move before matters got worse for the defending champion who ran well wide and fell into the clutches of Davies. The Ducati rider looked a lot more comfortable on his machine and went for a move at Turn 1 going into Lap 16. Rea tried everything to hold on to his position, but Davies was through for good at Turn 3.

With two laps remaining Davies was running a stronger pace than his teammate in the lead and started a late hunt, but it was not quite enough for the Welshman. Redding took the chequered flag first for his third win of the season, 0.3 seconds ahead of Davies. Rea was beaten in third and crossed the line 1.8 seconds late.

Ducati thereby secured their second 1-2 finish of the season and the day got even better for the Bologna factory when Rinaldi sweeped past van der Mark down the back straight on the penultimate lap and held the Dutchman behind him to finish the race in fourth.

Razgatlioglu ended a quiet race in sixth ahead of Baz who dropped numerous positions from the front row of the grid. Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) just beat Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) to eighth while Leon Haslam (Team HRC), who had run into issues during the second half of the race, rounded out the top 10.

Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Racing) was 11^th from Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance) and Roman Ramos (Outdo Kawasaki TPR) who stood in for the injured Sandro Cortese. Marco Melandri (Barni Racing Team) finished in 14^th and Takumi Takahashi (MIE Racing Althea Honda) took the last point on offer in 15^th.

Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) had to serve a ride-through penalty due to his mechanics, who were repairing damage done to the bike when Laverty crashed on the sighting lap with brake issues at Turn 5, left the grid too late and finished outside the points in 16^th. Lorenzo Gabellini (MIE Racing Althea Honda) was the last rider to cross the line in 17^th.

Alongside Lowes and Bautista, Maximilian Scheib (Orelac Racing Verdnatura), Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team), Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Christophe Ponsson (Nuova M2 Racing) also did not finish the race.