WSBK – WSBK Thailand (1): Rea eclipses his opponents! –

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WSBK Thailand (1): Rea eclipses his opponents !

WSBK - WSBK Thailand (1): Rea eclipses his opponents! -

After doubling the Superpole yesterday, Jonathan Rea shone again in the race this afternoon (this morning for us French) by winning a very clear victory in the first round on the international circuit of Buriram. As in Australia, the new Kawasaki rider is accompanied on the podium by two British… First Superbike race …

After yesterday, Jonathan Rea shone again in the race this afternoon (this morning for us French) by winning a very clear victory in the first round on the international circuit of Buriram. As in Australia, the new Kawasaki rider is accompanied on the podium by two British…

First Superbike race

The poleman Jonathan Rea made a very good start but Tom Sykes got a better one, from further on the grid! The Kawasaki rider n ° 66 is inserted between his teammate n ° 65 and Aprilia n ° 91 of Leon Haslam. Next come Alex Lowes, Jordi Torres, Chaz Davies, Troy Bayliss, Sylvain Guintoli, Michael van den Mark and Matteo Baiocco.

Davies crashes on his official Ducati at the third corner (pin at the end of the longest straight on the circuit) and suddenly climbs to fourth position ahead of Lowes. Rea is already pulling away from Sykes and the rest of the peloton, with a small second lead on lap 1. Guitoli is 8th, De Puniet 13th, Barrier 16th and Ponsson 18th.

Leon Camier was forced to retire from the second lap. Johnny Rea, on the other hand, continues to put – very – heavy gas, increasing his lead by half a second. Haslam didn’t take a good liking to this and put the brakes on Sykes in turn 3 on lap 3. Sykes tries to stay in touch. Lowes is a few pitches from # 66, and is escorted by Davies and Torres.

On the 4th lap, Alex and his Suzuki n ° 22 slightly left the Ducati n ° 7 and Aprilia n ° 81. The GSX-R1000 is similar to the ZX-10R # 66. Guintoli is still seventh but his young teammate VDM does not make his life easy !

In the peloton, Troy Bayliss – who always replaces Davide Giugliano within the Ducati Aruba.it team – is ahead of Matteo Baiocco tenth. Randy de Puniet is 12th, Barrier 15th and Ponsson … unfortunately fell in the 5th lap. Niccolo Canepa is no longer in the race, but has joined his EBR Hero box by himself.

In front, Rea completed the 5th lap with more than two seconds ahead of Haslam. The two leaders – of the race and the championship! – ride solo while Sykes and Lowes fight for third place, just ahead of Davies and Torres who are less agitated….

Alex Lowes takes advantage of a mouse hole opened by Tom Sykes in the 7th round. The world champion certainly did not think of being attacked by widening so little … But it was counting without the boldness of his compatriot, champion of Great Britain 2013 !

Michael van den Mark who put the pressure on our reigning world champion voluntarily leaves the track and deposits his Fireblade on the edge of the circuit … Guinters finds himself alone in seventh place, five seconds behind Torres (Davies and Sykes), three seconds ahead of Baiocco (Salom and Bayliss).

As the leader "JR" crosses the halfway mark, "Chazie" loses the front of his official Panigale R in the last corner. The Welshman lets Sykes and Torres slip away but gets back on his bike as quickly as possible and starts again in 15th position, in the wheel of Ramos and Barrier…

At the head of the race since the lights went out, Rea sped two tenths of a second slower than Haslam and saw his lead decrease to 1.6 seconds in the 11th lap. One loop later, the gap has not changed: the n ° 65 will seek to control during the last eight laps…

Third with 4.5 seconds behind Rea, Lowes grew impatient and made the same mistake as Chaz Davies, losing his GSX-R on the maximum angle in the last turn (on a slope, the ugly one!). The n ° 22 rejoins the track in front of Baiocco and Salom but widens in the bend n ° 3 and is found ninth in front of Mercado and De Puniet.

While Rea maintained his pace (around 1 ‘34.5), Haslam lost half a second on lap 13 and gave up several tenths again on the following lap. Aprilia n ° 91 will undoubtedly have to settle for second place…

Tom Sykes remains on the podium, 3.5 seconds behind Leon, but Jordi Torres is in the wheel of the English Ninja. The Spanish rookie can still claim a first WSBK podium with five laps remaining! Guintoli still occupies a solitary 5th place.

Alex Lowes climbs back to sixth position four laps from the end, overtaking Salom (2014 Evo champion) and Bayliss (triple WSBK champion) in quick succession. Baiocco and Mercado completed the Top 10, five seconds ahead of Randy. Barrier fights with Ramos for 14th place.

With three laps to go, Jonathan Rea has definitely gained the upper hand over Leon Haslam: almost six seconds separate the two championship leaders. Tom Sykes is still third but must surely hear the V4 of RSV4 n ° 81 screaming behind him! Sylvain Guintoli is fifth, four seconds ahead of Alex Lowes.

Jonathan Rea barely relaxes on his last lap and wins the first Thai race with more than six seconds ahead of his great rival in the provisional Leon Haslam. Tom Sykes manages to keep his third place until the checkered flag.

The rookie Jordi Torres once again finished in 4th place and will try to do better in a few hours, in the second round! Our "Number One" completes the Top 5 and scores points for the 41st time in a row, improving his record. De Puniet finally finished 13th place, Barrier 14th.

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