10-13 Portugal – Portimão – WorldSBK Portugal (1): Jonathan Rea, captured five out of five in Portimao – KAWASAKI Occasions

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WorldSBK Portugal (1): Jonathan Rea, captured five out of five in Portimao

10-13 Portugal - Portimão - WorldSBK Portugal (1): Jonathan Rea, captured five out of five in Portimao - KAWASAKI Occasions

Author of the double at Laguna Seca then at Misano before the summer break, Jonathan Rea begins the comeback with a fifth consecutive victory at Portimao, the 65th of his career in World Superbike ! Powerless against the champion, Melandri and Van der Mark rise to the podium again.

Dropped two seconds from the ruthless "JR" during the, Eugene Laverty won the Superpole this afternoon on the same Portuguese circuit for the tenth round of the 2018 World Superbike Championship! Irish No.50 wins third WSBK pole, first since returning from MotoGP.

Behind the Aprilia Factory rider are the two strong men of the first day of free practice: the Northern Irishman Jonathan Rea on his Kawasaki n ° 1 (champions in 2015, 2016, 2017 and soon 2018?) And the Italian Marco Melandri on his Ducati n ° 33.

Drafted in SP1, Lorenzo Savadori occupied the first place in SP2 during the first "run" and finally placed the second RSV4 in the lead of the second row! Michael van der Mark adds a touch of blue to the Top 5 of qualifying by hoisting his factory R1 ahead of Tom Sykes (Kawasaki # 66).

Also passed through SP1, Loris Baz defended himself very well during the second phase of the Superpole: the "Savoyard cheetah" inserts his wild BMW n ° 76 between the Ducati n ° 12 of Xavi Fores and the MV Agusta n ° 81 by Jordi Torres. Can our representative stay in the Top 10 in the race ?

Superpole 2 was much less positive for Alex Lowes: fallen at high speed on the last curve, the English driver must place his R1 n ° 22 in 12th place on the Portuguese grid. Injured – twice! – at the collarbone this summer and fell in FP3 yesterday, Chaz Davies did not even qualify for SP2. It starts from an anonymous 14th place…

Departure : Jonathan Rea got off to a great start and took the lead from the first corner. In the second, Fores is lost under braking and mows down the unfortunate Laverty, then fourth. On the track, Melandri and Savadori are trying to stay in the wake of "Number One". Disturbed by the incident, the peloton loses contact with the leading trio.

Michael van der Mark overtakes Tom Sykes at the start of the 2nd round. Behind the Kawasaki n ° 66 already points Chaz Davies, author of an extraordinary first lap! The "Welsh dragon" crunches his English colleague on the penultimate turn. Torres is a few lengths away. Razgatlioglu, Baz, Camier, Gagne and Rinaldi fight for eighth place.

Comfortably seated in the lead, Rea is the fastest on the track. The triple champion even erased the lap record of his future ex-teammate Sykes from the 3rd lap. But Melandri and Savadori resist valiantly while Van der Mark struggles to close the gap of a second and a half that separates him from the outposts.

Davies on the contrary, grabs ground on the Dutch … In the fifth lap, the n ° 7 Ducati finds himself in the rear wheel of the Yamaha n ° 60! Sykes unable to compete: 2013 WSBK champion barely keeps Torres MV Agusta # 81 at bay.

Loris Baz made a magnificent start to the race and circulated in eighth position on the 6th lap! The only BMW driver on the grid, also unique in France, keeps Torres in the sights. But at the same time he must beware of Razgatlioglu who follows him less than a second.

The two Honda Red Bull riders, Jake Gagne and Leon Camier contested for tenth place … until the English n ° 2 retired on the 8th lap due to a mechanical glitch. A shame for Leon who left the MV Agusta last year to take advantage of the legendary reliability of the CBR1000RR Fireblade !

Far ahead (nine seconds ahead of our Bazooka), Jonathan Rea killed the suspense and gained a two-second lead from the 8th lap. Barring bad luck – or miracle, depending on your point of view – Melandri and Savadori are now fighting for second place…

Of the two Italians, the younger seems the faster … Lorenzo is in any case the more demonstrative! He whips his RSV4 to put pressure on the experienced Melandri who is less abrupt with his Panigale. The "two-and-a-half" champion then has half a second ahead of Savadori…

The hopes of 2nd place, of the podium, of big points as well as small ones disappeared in the gravel for Savadori, at the very beginning of the 12th lap! The Aprilia Milwaukee team rider – a team already frustrated by Laverty’s unfortunate crash – loses the front in the first curve and gives up his third place to Michael van der Mark !

It is also sad news for the – rare – spectators of Portimao since the gaps between the first five drivers in the race (Rea, Melandri, Van der Mark, Davies and Sykes) exceed every two seconds. You have to wait four seconds after the passage of the Kawasaki n ° 66 to see some action…

Our Loris Baz is indeed in the aspiration of Jordi Torres, the Spanish driver that our "international" driver replaces at BMW Althea! A priori, the two men are not afraid of Toprak Razgatlioglu who rolls at the same pace as them, but three seconds behind. Rinaldi and Mercado complete the Top 10.

Bazooka attacks at the start of the 17th lap: remarkably well out of the final curve, the S1000RR overtakes the F4 RC in the straight line! Loris is intractable on the brakes, in the descent leading to the first curve as fast as tricky.

Our favorite n ° 76 then produces its effort and moves away irresistibly from n ° 81. Two laps later, Baz crossed the finish line in a very satisfying sixth place. Loris takes advantage of the fall of Lorenzo Savadori to reappear in the world Top 10 (96 points against 92).

Twenty seconds earlier, Jonathan Rea signed his 5th victory in a row after his doubles at Laguna Seca then at Misano, his sixth in a row on the Portimao circuit (!), His 11th success this season in 19 races, and the 65th of his career in World Superbike…

It is also the 50th victory of "Dieu Rea" on the ZX-10RR! Johnny will stay at Kawasaki for the next two seasons: the victory records for the same manufacturer held by Fogarty and Bayliss (respectively 54 and 52 successes with Ducati) are likely to be exploded….

Already present on the podium at the end of the second round at Misano, Michael van der Mark and Marco Melandri this time could never claim to win against the triple – soon to be fourth – Superbike world champion. Marco and Michael swap places and get back on Sykes and Davies respectively in the provisional.

Davies does much better than saving the furniture: starting from fourteenth place on the grid, the Welsh n ° 7 finished in an unexpected fourth position in this first round and thus took pole position for the second round tomorrow! The Ducati rider will however have to find half a second to challenge Rea and Melandri for victory….

Result of the 1st WSBK 2018 race in Portimao

10-13 Portugal - Portimão - WorldSBK Portugal (1): Jonathan Rea, captured five out of five in Portimao - KAWASAKI Occasions

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