World Superbike Championship 2018 Portimao Portugal

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World Superbike Championship 2018 Portimao Portugal
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World Superbike Championship 2018 Portimao Portugal

Superbike World Championship 2018 in Portimao (Portugal)
Race 2 Portimao: Rea wins and leaves Ducati behind

Jonathan Rea also wins the second race in Portimao after a long battle with Chaz Davies. Van der Mark benefits from the tussle between the two Ducatis and takes second place ahead of Melandri.

Rowena Hinzmann

09/15/2018

The second race of the Superbike World Championship in Portimao was marked by the battle between Ducati and Jonathan Rea, who finally managed to punch his way through after a long chase for Chaz Davies and many duels and also won the race on Sunday.

Rea got off to a good start and after the first lap was already third behind his team-mate Tom Sykes and the leader Chaz Davies. But this constellation did not last long and Rea tried to overtake Sykes on the third lap, but failed on his first two attempts. In the third attack on Sykes, he finally lost out and so Rea took up the chase on Davies, who at this point already had a gap of over a second on the field. Rea sucked himself magnetically to the rear of Davies and not two laps later was sitting right on the back of the neck of the British. Over laps the world champion fought against the current world number two, trying again and again on the start / finish straight to overtake the Ducati. But here, too, Rea had to show perseverance and wait for his third attempt, which was ultimately crowned with success and was supposed to last until the end of the race.

When two people argue, van der Mark is happy

Meanwhile, the two Ducati colleagues Davies and Melandri were wrestling with each other, which Michael van der Mark in particular was pleased about after a surprising overtaking maneuver: The squabbling of the Reds made the two drivers go a little far with a few laps before the end, which the Dutchman immediately took advantage of. to convert a rank four into a silver boiler platform placement. Bronze today went to Marco Melandri, who after a successful second place in the first race can finally end the weekend with a smile. The defeated team-mate Davies made it to fourth place as in the first race, followed by Tom Sykes.


World Superbike Championship 2018 Portimao Portugal


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Eugene Laverty made it into seventh place in the second race.

After the bitter end of the race on Saturday, it was time for the two Aprilia drivers to get points today. The plan was successfully carried out by Savadori with sixth place behind Sykes; Team-mate Laverty pushed himself in front of Michael Rinaldi on the last lap and finished the race in seventh place directly behind Savadori. Loris Baz and Xavi Fores come up to nine and ten.

It seemed to be an unsuccessful weekend for Alex Lowes, who after finishing tenth in the first race could not improve on Sunday with eleventh place. The Red Bull Honda team had a similar experience. With Jake Gagne on twelve and Leon Camier on 14 a couple of points could be achieved, but the expected success is still missing. 

Result race 2

1. Jonathan Rea Kawasaki
2.  Michael van der Mark Yamaha
3. Marco Melandri Ducati
4th. Chaz Davies Ducati
5. Tom Sykes Kawasaki
6th. Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia
7th. Eugene Laverty Arprilia
8th. Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati
9. Loris Baz BMW
10. Xavi Fores Ducati
11. Alex Lowes Yamaha
12th. Jake Gagne Honda
13th. Jordi Torres MV Augusta
14th. Leon Camier Honda
15th. Leandro Mercado Kawasaki
16. Yonny Hernandez Kawasaki
17th. PJ Jacobsen Honda
Out John Smrz Yamha
Out Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki
Out Roman Ramos Kawasaki

Race 1

The 19th race of the Superbike World Championship 2018 makes World Champion Jonathan Rea perfect for himself and thus counts his 65th victory in his career. The Kawasaki giant started from second place and took the lead in the first corner, which he held until the checkered flag. To the right of Rea stands Marco Melandri on the podium, who was finally able to break free after many disappointing racing weekends. Michael van der Mark crosses the finish line in third place.

Davies proves strong nerves

However, the strongest performance in today’s first race was delivered by Chaz Davies. The Brit started from 14th place and already managed to fight his way up to sixth place on the first lap. The catch-up mode was activated and so he cashed Tom Sykes driving ahead and finished the race with a successful fourth place.


World Superbike Championship 2018 Portimao Portugal


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Loris Baz comes back strengthened from the summer break and decides the race in sixth place.

Loris Baz joins them. For a long time, the BMW was not seen driving in the front of the field in a race. Today the Frenchman finally managed to cross the finish line in sixth position on his BMW S 1000 RR. Jordi Torres, Toprak Razgatligu and Michael Rinaldi followed Baz one after the other.

Alex Lowes also demonstrated a real fighter’s heart today. The Yamaha rider completely missed his start and dropped from twelfth on the grid to 18th. The Briton managed to collect one opponent after the other in rounds and in the end, with hard work and a lot of sweat under his helmet, to complete the top 10.

Bitter pill for Aprilia and Honda

While they could look forward to a successful race, the Aprilia team’s heads hung almost to the ground. Aprilia had to feel twice today that Portimao does not forgive mistakes: First, pole setter Laverty was cleared by a braking error in the first corner after the start of Xavi Fores. In the middle of the race, Lorenzo Savadori, who was in third position, went down with his Aprilia. Two possible top placements, both of which unfortunately ended in the gravel.
And sobering faces could also be seen in the Honda box. While Jake Gagne was the last to finish the race in 15th place and was even able to score points, Camier had to retire in the second third of the race due to a technical defect.

The second race of the Superbike World Championship in Portimao will take place on Sunday at 4.15 p.m. our time.

Result race 1

1.  Jonathan Rea Kawasaki
2. Marco Melandri Ducati
3.  Michael van der Mark Yamaha
4th. Chaz Davies Ducati
5.  Tom Sykes Kawasaki
6th.  Loris Baz BMW
7th.  Jordi Torres MV Augusta
8th.  Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki
9.  Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati
10.  Alex Lowes Yamaha
11.  Leandro Mercado Kawasaki
12th.  Yonny Hernandez Kawasaki
13th.  Jake Gagne Honda
14th.  Roman Ramos Kawasaki
15th.  Jake Gagne Honda
Out Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia
Out John Smrz Yamha
Out Leon Camier Honda
Out Eugene Laverty Arprilia
Out Xavi Fores Ducati

Superpole

Just back from the summer break, it is Eugene Laverty who conquered pole position in Portiamo (Portugal). The Ducati rider already showed in the free practice sessions on Friday that Portugal is one of his favorite tracks and was one step ahead of world champion Jonathan Rea on the penultimate lap with a 1: 40.705. The world champion cracked the 1:40 mark in the same lap as Laverty, but was surpassed by Laverty by +0.060 seconds.

Marco Melandri will start from third place in the afternoon in the first race, who also proved in the free practice sessions that despite his end at Ducati after this season he is not to be counted. Because for 2019 the Ducati works team will consist of Chaz Davies and the reigning MotoGP rider Alvaro Bautista. Melandri, on the other hand, is currently still without a contract and is associated with various companies such as Yamaha or Honda.


World Superbike Championship 2018 Portimao Portugal


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Lorenzo Savadori proved in the two Superpoles that Portugal is the MV Augusta.

Lorenzo Savadori not only rocked SP1, in which he qualified on one for SP2. At times he also led in SP2, but was unable to maintain this position and will start from fourth place. Behind them are Michael van der Mark and Tom Sykes.

Lowes crashes at an inopportune moment

Behind Xavi Forres, who opened the third row on the grid, BMW driver Loris Baz surprised with a 1: 41.213 lap time and eighth place. Right behind is Jordi Torres, for whom it is not yet clear how and whether he will continue in the next season in the Superbike World Championship. The top 10 is completed by the young Toprak Razgatlioglu, followed by Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Sam Lowes. The latter crashed in the penultimate minute, which is why he was unable to improve his lap time.

The two Honda drivers Leon Camier and Jake Gagne will start from positions 13 and 15 in the race. In between, Chaz Davies managed to push himself in, who saw no chance of finding time anywhere on his laps in SP1.

Superpole result

1.  Eugene Laverty Aprilia 01: 40.705
2. Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 01: 40.765
3.  Marco Melandri Ducati 01: 40.856
4th. Lorenzo Savadori  Aprilia 01: 40.901
5.  Michael van der Mark Yamaha 01: 40.926
6th.  Tom Sykes Kawasaki 01: 41.103
7th.  Xavi Forres Ducati 01: 41.202
8th.  Loris Baz BMW 01: 41.213
9.  Jordi Torres MV Augusta 01: 41.422
10.  Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki 01: 41.960
11.  Michael Rinaldi Ducati 01: 42.047
12th.  Alex Lowes Yamaha 01: 42.709
13th.  Leon Camier Honda 01: 42.019
14th.  Chaz Davies Ducati 01: 42.045
15th.  Jake Gagne Honda 01: 42.653
16.  Leandro Mercado Kawasaki 01: 42.812
17th.  Yonny Hernandez Kawasaki 01: 42.844
18th.  PJ Jacobsen Honda 01: 43.018
19th.  Roman Ramos Kawasaki 01: 43.586
20th.  John Smrz Yamaha 01: 43.984

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