WorldSBK Portugal (2): Rea pushes six towards the 2018 title
Even forced by the regulations to start from ninth place for this second Portuguese round, Jonathan Rea won his sixth consecutive victory in Portimao this afternoon! The triple champion puts a glove on his fourth world crown…
Departure : Chaz Davies took off perfectly from his pole position and led ahead of Tom Sykes, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Michael Rinaldi, Jonathan Rea, Marco Melandri, Michael van der Mark, Loris Baz, Leon Camier, Jordi Torres, etc..
Who said sunday was made for chilling? Race 2 is ON!!!!
– WorldSBK (@WorldSBK)
Rea takes advantage of an attack by Rinaldi on Razgatlioglu to pass in front of his fellow ninja and Turkish in hairpin n ° 5. The three-time world champion then overtakes the two Ducatis of Melandri and Rinaldi during the first pass, at full speed, in the pit straight! Next target: Sykes…
Davies’ first two laps are much calmer: a little faster than Sykes, the No.7 Ducati rider is several steps ahead of the No.66 Kawasaki, threatened and then harassed by the "Number One". .. Rea has to do it three times to pass his future ex-teammate and finds himself a second behind the leader.
Green battle overtakes
– WorldSBK (@WorldSBK)
Barely recovered from his brilliant fight against Johnny, Tom is immediately put under pressure by Melandri! Van der Mark is a good second from the n ° 33 Ducati and whips his R1 to get away as quickly as possible from the fiery Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu.
On the 5th lap, Baz was in a good eighth place, in front of Aprilia rapids n ° 32 de Savadori and n ° 50 de Laverty. Fores, Torres, Gagne and Lowes complete the Top 15. Ahead, Melandri overtakes Sykes and virtually climbs onto the second Portuguese podium..
A big second ahead, Rea joins Davies without any difficulty and settles in his pots. The two pilots take radically different paths! Jonathan observes Chaz during the 6th lap and pulls the pin at the start of the 7th…
It looks that someone is getting closer to
– WorldSBK (@WorldSBK)
A little too wide in the first curve, Rea was passed by Davies on the go-around. A lap later, Jonathan seems to be trying his luck again, but Chaz brakes a fraction – several meters! – later and stay ahead of the race !
The battle between the Welsh and the Northern Irish allows Marco Melandri to recover discreetly … The Italian then holds the lap record in the race and takes advantage of a new response from Davies on Rea in the 9th lap to join them…
A second later, Sykes has just bowed to Van der Mark in the first – very heavy – braking of the Portuguese circuit. The Dutch quickly moved away from the English and focused on the Ducati n ° 33 which followed the Kawasaki n ° 1 and the Ducati n ° 7 !
It’s side by side time! vs
– WorldSBK (@WorldSBK)
Seven seconds behind the outposts, Baz is still fighting the two Aprilia. His BMW does not allow him to keep his place and Loris finds himself in ninth when the first half of the race is over. Fores is just under four seconds behind our favorite # 76.
Rea takes command at the very start of turn 11, and Davies cannot counterattack this time. A superb fall then begins between Davies and Melandri, which also leads them to brake a little too late at the start of the 12th lap….
. overtakes and profit it
– WorldSBK (@WorldSBK)
On the lookout, Van der Mark takes advantage of the slight gap between the two Panigales in curve n ° 1 to hoist his R1 directly from fourth to second place! After this fabulous sleight of hand, "Magic Michael" begins to dream of victory! But the ruthless "JR" doubles his lead in the 15th lap, from half a second to a full second…
Melandri remains in the tempo of the two leaders, unlike Davies who quickly loses contact and is caught by Sykes. Rinaldi ends up cracking under the incessant attacks of Savadori, ditto for Baz dominated by Laverty with 5 laps from the end.
The group wheelie through the hill
– WorldSBK (@WorldSBK)
Jostled by his rivals in the middle of the race, Rea experienced a slightly milder end of the second heat. Unable to catch Johnny in the spotlight, Van der Mark and Melandri released the pressure on the 18th lap. The three men share the World Superbike podium for the third time in a row !
Pursued by Sykes during the last third of this second Portuguese round, Davies resisted until the checkered flag and again finished in fourth position. Ducati rider n ° 7 gives up seven points to Van der Mark in the championship: 304 against 284.
Thanks to his third consecutive double – this season as on the Portimao circuit! – Jonathan Rea has 420 points, 116 more than Davies. The three-time world champion could therefore obtain his fourth title in the first French round, in two weeks at Magny-Cours ….
Result of the 2nd WSBK 2018 race in Portimao
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