09-13 Italy – Misano – WorldSBK Italy (2): Rea pulls out the big game against Van der Mark and Melandri – KAWASAKI Occasions

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WorldSBK Italy (2): Rea pulls out all the stops against Van der Mark and Melandri

09-13 Italy - Misano - WorldSBK Italy (2): Rea pulls out the big game against Van der Mark and Melandri - KAWASAKI Occasions

Accused of killing the suspense in racing and in the Superbike World Championship, Jonathan Rea claimed a fourth victory in a row this Sunday in Misano, his tenth this season… But the No. 1 Kawasaki especially provided a superb show in the company of Van der Mark, Melandri and Davies !

Easy winner of the first round yesterday afternoon in Misano, Jonathan Rea is asked to place his Kawasaki n ° 1 on the ninth place of the Italian grid today, behind the two drivers who followed him – by far – on the podium: Chaz Davies (Ducati n ° 7) and Eugene Laverty (Aprillia n ° 50).

Arrived fourth Saturday, Michael van der Mark is "boosted" on the contrary this Sunday: the rider n ° 60 Yamaha starts from pole position! He moved in front of Tom "Superpole" Sykes (Kawasaki n ° 66) and Xavi "Independant" Fores (Ducati n ° 12).

The second row is offered to Marco Melandri (Ducati n ° 33), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia n ° 32) and Leon Camier (Honda n ° 2). Qualified to an admirable 6th place yesterday, Loris Baz is doubly punished for his fall in the race: our "Savoyard cheetah" must start from a distant 10th place. Grrr.

Departure : Xavi Fores takes off beautifully from third place at the helm of his rocket Panifgale tricolor and takes the lead ahead of Van der Mark, Sykes, Melandri, Savadori, Rea, Laverty, Davies, Lowwes, Camier, Baz, etc..

Marco widens in the second hyper-fast break to the right of "his" Italian circuit and almost knocked down his compatriot Savadori by joining the right line at the Tramonto hairpin. Hot ! Britons Davies, Rea and Lowes easily win a place !

Davies and Melandri are fighting for fourth place just ahead of Rea! Sykes takes advantage of their pass of arms to take a little lead … Fores still occupies first place, Van der Mark second. But the fastest man in the race is Rea…

Like last year, Fores is the victim of a mechanical glitch! The private n ° 12 raises his arm and leaves the track, annoyed … The Yamaha official n ° 60 therefore inherits the head … which he must keep "cold" because the Kawasaki and Ducati officials follow him very , very close, accompanied by his teammate Lowes and the two Aprilia "Factory" !

Rea sets a new fastest time in the 5th lap and is eyeing the third place occupied by his teammate Tom Sykes …. Chaz Davies is doing his best to stay in contact with the two Kawasaki. Lowes, Savadori, Laverty and Baz move away from Camier then alone in 10th position.

Rea manages to pass Sykes at the start of the 7th lap. The "Number One" immediately joined Melandri who nevertheless had several steps ahead of Sykes. The Ducati rider n ° 33 widens in the double right of Rio at the start of the layout, but manages to recover "his" second place under the hard braking of the Quercia !

A magnificent fight opens between the Italian and the Northern Irish, allowing the Dutch to isolate himself in the lead: at the start of the 9th lap, the Yamaha n ° 60 is more than a second ahead of the turbulent and cheerful Ducati n ° 33 and Kawasaki n ° 1 !

Sykes and Davies have a front row seat to watch the show! This other factory machine duel turns to the advantage of the Ducati rider: Davies slips his Panigale under Sykes’ ZX-10RR in the first chicane of the 11th lap. The Welshman now targets his teammate who lets go of the ruthless "JR"…

Rea halved his delay over Van der Mark in the 12th lap! Melandri can’t match the tempo of the three-time world champion but spins fast enough to keep Davies at bay. In the background, Sykes is chased by Lowes and Savadori. Laverty, Baz and Camier ride alone.

Jonathan Rea does not rush his recovery on Michael van der Mark. The pilots still have seven laps to go and the championship leader takes all his time to analyze the trajectories of his opponent … or simply waits for his predecessor to make a small mistake to pick him up. ?

Rea will however be forced to go on the offensive because Melandri is less than half a second! Kawasaki’s triple "Number One" tries his luck in the first chicane of the 16th lap but "Magic Michael" resists on the outside and retains the reins of the race! Tough…

Five laps from the checkered flag, the blue leader sets a better time than his pursuers … But the fastest is Davies, discreet fourth, a big second behind his teammate Melandri. The Italian who thought he could play the win loses contact in the next round and must beware of the "Welsh Dragon".

Rea passed Van der Mark again at the start of the 18th lap. The n ° 60 Yamaha defends its leather dearly but has to bow under the braking of the double right Rio … The triple world champion in turn adopts defensive trajectories which protect him from any attack, but prevent him from taking off !

Van der Mark and Melandri therefore remain in Rea’s aspiration until the end! But the man – very, very – strong in the discipline carefully closes all the doors in the slow sections and makes no mistakes in the high speed sections..

Jonathan Rea finally takes his tenth victory of the season. This fourth success in a row is all the more beautiful as it is torn from a nothing third of a second (!) of the gloves of the excellent Michael van der Mark and facing a Marco Melandri – practically – at the top of his art.

Blocked a second and a half behind the leading trio at the end of the race, Chaz Davies had to be content with a fourth place … which did not secure him pole position during the next race scheduled in two long months in Portimao (Portugal ). No why ?!

Our international driver Loris Baz finished this second round in 10th place and therefore scored seven additional points in the championship: with his 86 points, the n ° 76 BMW Althea driver remains in contact with Leon Camier and Lorenzo Savadori, respectively 11th and 10th. with 86 and 92 points.

At the top of the provisional classification, Rea consolidates his colossal lead: the Kawasaki n ° 1 rider has accumulated 370 points (out of 450 maximum) against 278 for Chaz Davies. This afternoon, in front of the tifosis, the n ° 7 Ducati not only let 12 points slip away against Rea, but he also gave up seven to Michael van der Mark (248).

Thirty points also separate VDM from Sykes, while 25 points down Melandri is tied on points with Lowes (193), but the Italian comes in fifth thanks to his two wins at Phillip Island, against one for the English in Brno.

Result of the 1st WSBK 2018 race in Misano

 09-13 Italy - Misano - WorldSBK Italy (2): Rea pulls out the big game against Van der Mark and Melandri - KAWASAKI Occasions

09-13 Italy - Misano - WorldSBK Italy (2): Rea pulls out the big game against Van der Mark and Melandri - KAWASAKI Occasions

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