WSBK – Rea’s Kawasaki dominates MotoGP at Jerez tests! –

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Rea’s Kawasaki dominates MotoGP in Jerez tests !

WSBK - Rea's Kawasaki dominates MotoGP at Jerez tests! -

While at the beginning of 2009, Kawasaki officially withdrew from the MotoGP Grands Prix for lack of results to match its colossal investments, seven years later the crest of Akashi took the pawn of MotoGP… with his World Superbike ZX-10R, masterfully piloted by Jonathan Rea in Jerez! Explanations.

The reigning WSBK world champion,, made the powder speak again yesterday in Jerez de la Frontera (Spain),. Second behind Barbera, the Kawasaki rider beat all his rivals to the post, including the Grand Prix prototypes of Bautista, Baz and Barbera on day two !

Admittedly, there is a lack of beautiful people in MotoGP: Rossi and Viñales test out of sight – and of lap times – in Sepang (Malaysia), Marquez and Pedrosa are absent for lack of parts to test and Lorenzo cannot get back on the Ducati before the end of his contract with Yamaha. As for Iannone, the Italian folded his saplings Wednesday night, his new team judging that he had sufficiently advanced the development of the Suzuki. 

This decision also reflects the desire of the Hamamatsu coat of arms to spare the budget for the test days allocated to these pilots: with these good results obtained by Viñales, Suzuki no longer has access to regulatory concessions, such as the one allowing to multiply at will the tests with its holders (read our). This constraint also explains the absence of Honda officials: no question of losing two precious days of testing if nothing has changed on the RCV since the Valencia test (Spain).

Rea faster than Rossi’s 2016 pole !

Consequently, only MotoGP riders from the second – or even third – part of the peloton continue their tests in Jerez: Hector Barbera, Loris Baz, Alvaro Bautista, Scott Redding, Jack Miller, Bradley Smith and Aleix Espargaro. Excellent sizes, of course, but not of the same caliber on time as a Lorenzo launched in a "freediving" lap….

Jonathan Rea’s performance is nonetheless remarkable: not content with taxing Bautista’s Ducati GP16 (1’38.721 against 1’38.946), the official Kawasaki beats above all by a few hundredths the pole position signed by Valentino Rossi himself in 1’38.736 at the! A real snub for the small world of Grand Prix, whose prototypes are however much more sophisticated and powerful than Rea’s ZX-10R.

WSBK - Rea's Kawasaki dominates MotoGP at Jerez tests! -

The proof with the stratospheric gap in terms of top speed: 272 km / h for the Kawasaki – very – derived from the against 291.1 km / h (+19 km / h !!) for the GP16 of Bautista, very close at this point to the factory Ducati driven by Doviziosio and Iannone this season. Pirelli, sole tire supplier to the World Superbike, must also rub their hands in front of such a performance against its old rival Michelin !

MotoGP however saved the honor thanks to Jorge Lorenzo, absent from these tests but nevertheless author of the absolute record of the Andalusian track thanks to his in 2015 on the Yamaha M1. Phew !

Baz fourth behind Davies’ Panigale SBK

Undoubtedly very motivated by the stake, Jonathan Rea delivered an incredible score in the south of Spain: his time is four tenths below the absolute WSBK record achieved last year by his teammate Tom Sykes, in 1 ‘ 39.190. The Akashi Greens can be proud of the work accomplished … and harbor some regrets about their ?

WSBK - Rea's Kawasaki dominates MotoGP at Jerez tests! -

It should be noted that Chaz Davies signs on his Panigale R Superbike the third fastest time of this day, which started under very cool temperatures (6 ° C in the morning). The Welshman, strongman of the WSBK championship, has interposed between the MotoGP Ducati of Alvaro Bautista and Loris Baz, fourth at 0.463 sec of Rea’s time ahead of Tom Sykes.

Bradley Smith signs for his part the 20th time almost three seconds from the reference time on his factory KTM, in front of Sam Lowes’ Aprilia, the last one of this session and very embarrassed by his injuries contracted during his fall at Valence. 

Results and standings of the second day of private MotoGP / WSBK testing in Jerez 

WSBK - Rea's Kawasaki dominates MotoGP at Jerez tests! - 

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