WSBK – WSBK Portugal (1): Rea unsinkable –

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WSBK Portugal (1): Rea unsinkable

WSBK - WSBK Portugal (1): Rea unsinkable -

Completely unexpected, the rain spiced up a first Superbike round in Portimao which was already quite exciting … Victim of a technical problem, Sykes was unable to compete for victory against Rea until the end. Davies completes the podium. First Superbike race Tom Sykes makes the holeshot at the controls of his Ninja n ° 66 in front of Davide…

Completely unexpected, the rain spiced up a first Superbike round in Portimao which was already quite exciting … Victim of a technical problem, Sykes was unable to compete for victory against Rea until the end. Davies completes the podium.

First Superbike race

Tom Sykes made the holeshot at the controls of his Ninja n ° 66 in front of Davide Giugliano, Chaz Davies, and Jonathan Rea already fourth as he started from eighth place on the grid! Leon Haslam, Alex Lowes, Sylvain Guintoli, Matteo Baiocco, Ayrton Badovini, Leon Camier complete the Top 10.

Davies passed his teammate Giugliano at the halfway point and was imitated by Rea. The two British pilots certainly don’t want to let the Ninja # 66 go. Author of the best time this morning in the warm-up, "Major Tom" undoubtedly wants to play the "Lorenzo"…

Jonathan takes advantage of the aspiration in the long straight – commanded by the endless curve to the right – to steal "Chazie" for second place. Tom was then three quarters of a second ahead of his two direct pursuers, more than a second over Haslam and Lowes.

Davide Giugliano lost five places in the 2nd lap: he drove in ninth position behind his two compatriots Baiocco and Badovini, respectively perched on their Ducati (Althea) 1199 Panigale R and BMW (Italia) S1000RR.

At the bottom of the straight, Haslam attacked Davies under braking but pulled out of the curve and regained his fourth place. Alex Lowes gets off the track in the 3rd lap and gives our "Number One" fifth place: Guintoli is almost five seconds behind leader Sykes.

"JR" signs the best lap of the race in the 3rd lap and goes back half a second behind his teammate. Davies and Haslam may well have buried the hatchet, they can’t keep pace with Ninja n ° 65 … In the background, Badovini then Giugliano overtake our dear "Guinters".

Housed in the wheel of n ° 1 Honda, Jordi Torres took 7th place on the first braking of the 5th lap … A few lengths ahead, Giugliano continued his recovery and took 5th place from Badovini. De Puniet is 14th but is threatened by Ramos, Ponsson is 18th just behind Canepa.

The 6th lap is underway and Davies’ signaller strongly encourages his driver: the Welshman on his Ducati n ° 7 gradually climbs back on Rea and his Kawasaki! But in the next loop, Johnny raises his tone and lodges himself in the suction of his colleague Sykes. Davies can’t keep up and must be wary of Haslam.

Jonathan Rea comes out of the last curve of the 8th lap very hard but is content to show the end of his fairing to Tom Sykes … Two laps later, Leon Haslam passed Chaz Davies at the end of the straight line but widened in the hairpin. n ° 5 and loses third place.

Taking advantage of a mistake by Sykes, Rea took control of the race on lap 11 and got half a second ahead. Aprilia n ° 91 passes the Ducati n ° 7 again on the descent towards the first corner but does not hold the rope and regains "its" fourth place.

On the 12th lap, Haslam climbed to third position again at the end of the straight line but completely went off the track at the hairpin. Chaz Davies is therefore still third, four seconds behind the two official Kawasaki, and three seconds ahead of Haslam..

A few drops appear in the last sector of the circuit: the white flags are therefore waved by the marshals. Six laps from the end, the rain redoubled in intensity! Rea chooses to return to the pits, unlike Sykes who chooses to continue on slick tires! The majority of pilots also come home to put on tires.

"Major Tom" completes an extremely perilous lap and finally returns to the pits while Haslam falls under braking from hairpin n ° 5! Rea completes his first lap on rain gums as Sykes rejoins the track: the two Kawasaki find themselves wheel to wheel !

Jonathan widens slightly in turn 4 and hands the reins of the race over to Tom. Chaz is third, about four seconds behind the two Ninjas. Giugliano is fourth at more than 20 seconds, far ahead of Guintoli, Badovini and Baiocco, Mercado, Torres and Van den Mark. De Puniet is 13th, Ponsson 17th.

Three laps from the end, Sykes misses turn 13, momentarily offers the lead of the race to his best enemy Rea but recovers it at the end of the straight. One lap later, "Johnny" passes "Major Tom" on the outside! Kawasaki n ° 66 does not run correctly: its rider fails to start twice in highside and enrage…

Jonathan Rea flies to victory while his teammate Tom Sykes seems to regain the full potential of his machine and secures second place in this first round ahead of Chaz Davies. ‘JR’ pays homage to his Spanish team by donning Barca shirt.

The n ° 65 thus ends in style a magnificent first half of the 2015 season: rea is 107 points ahead of Sykes, 122 over Haslam, 134 over Davies, 183 over the first rookie Torres and 202 over the reigning world champion Guintoli.

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