WSBK – WSBK Italy (1): Rea masters the first round –

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WSBK Italy (1): Rea masters the first round

WSBK - WSBK Italy (1): Rea masters the first round -

Starting from pole position, Jonathan Rea left no chance to his opponents by making an excellent start and moving away irresistibly as the laps progressed. Luckily for the public, his rivals put on a good show by fighting for the podium…. First race Superbike Rea and his Honda n ° 65 extricate themselves perfectly …

Starting from pole position, Jonathan Rea left no chance to his opponents by making an excellent start and moving away irresistibly as the laps progressed. Luckily for the public, his rivals put on a good show by fighting for the podium….

First Superbike race

Rea and his Honda n ° 65 extricate themselves perfectly from the grid and enter the Tamburello chicane first, followed by the two Aprilia n ° 33 and 50 from Melandri (!) And Guintoli, the Ducati n ° 7 from Davies, the Kawasaki n ° 1 and 76 by Sykes and Baz, Ducati n ° 34 by Giugliano, Suzuki n ° 58 by Laverty, Honda n ° 91 by Haslam and Suz ‘n ° 22 by Lowes. Foret and Guarnoni are 21 and 22nd, the wildcard Goi does not complete a lap…

Guintoli is lost in the braking of the Alta chicane trying to overtake Melandri before the end of the first lap: the Frenchie is hot! Meanwhile, Davies is encrusted in second position ahead of Melandri. Sykes beats Guintoli, Giugliano, Baz, Laverty, Haslam and Lowes.

Melandri in turn was lost in the Alta chicane on the 2nd lap and was overtaken by Sykes and Guintoli. Baz passes in front of Giugliano by infiltrating a mouse hole! In front, Rea is already half a second ahead of Davies. But the Welshman rolls himself a second in front of the peloton.

Nearly nine seconds behind the leader, Camier and Canepa are fighting for first place in the Evo category. Their duel is refereed by Elias and his RSV4 Factory registered in Superbike class. 14 seconds behind "JR", "Jey" Guarnoni climbed to 18th position. Foret brings up the rear in 25th position.

The 5th turn is on and Rea continues to attack while he can but can’t get rid of Davies! Sykes and Guintoli had hitherto been on the lookout, just a second from the Ducati, but Tom accelerates and separates slightly from Sylvain.

Loris Baz is inspired by his leader and is getting closer wolf cheetah of Aprilia n ° 50 piloted by his compatriot "Guinters" … Melandri and Giugliano delight the public by passing each other on several occasions !

Niccolo Canepa also gives his fans a cold sweat, but he gets off the track! The leader of the Evo category started again in last position and ended up joining the pits. Doubled by Toni Elias, Leon Camier remains the first of the Evos and has six seconds ahead of David Salom.

At the front, Rea isolates himself in the lead while Davies begins to stop Sykes, joined by Guintoli! Giugliano passes Melandri in the chicane which controls the "almost" straight line of the pits and retains the advantage by attacking the Tamburello chicane !

Sykes passed Davies in a stretch but was passed back into Alta. Guintoli took the opportunity to attack Sykes at the end of the chicane and stayed ahead of the English champion! Sylvain overtook Chaz and his Ducati on the 9th lap and thus moved away from his great rival Tom. Loris picks up this group of crazy people…

Far from all this uproar, "Johnny" increased his lead to more than three seconds as the halfway mark was crossed. "Guinters" spits in the gloves but cannot outrun "Chazie", neither does "Major Tom", "Bazooka" and "Romain" Giugliano! "Macho" Melandri is not in the rhythm and rolls a big second from the peloton.

Eugene Laverty continued his solo race in eighth position, two seconds ahead of his teammate Alex Lowes chased by Leon Haslam and Toni Elias. Leon Camier is 22 seconds behind the leader but crushes "his" competition: David Salom (13th) is eleven seconds behind. Jeremy Guarnoni is one place from the first point, Fabien Foret climbed back to 19th place.

In the 12th lap, Davide Giugliano loses the front of his 1199 Panigale. The Ducati slips, the Italian tries to catch up with it by pushing on his inner knee but the duo ends their race in the gravel! The disappointment is great for the No.34 and his many fans, but Melandri inherits the sixth place … And Guarnoni enters the points !

Comfortably seated at the front of the race, the n ° 65 Honda rider brought the gap between him and the chase group to more than five seconds. Guintoli still leads the group of four drivers on the 13th lap but gets caught braking Acqua Minerale by Chaz Davies.

There are only five laps left to go and the driver of Ducati n ° 7 plunges his head behind the bubble! Guintoli gave up several lengths but remained ahead of the two factory Kawasaki of Sykes and Baz. Melandri picks up the pace and tries to join Baz…

Sykes sets off an attack under braking from Alta, passes in front of Guintoli but cuts the chicane and lets Guintoli pass in the next sequence from Rivaza … The official Aprilia and Kawasaki land almost head-on in the final chicane: Guintoli, Sykes, Melandri and Baz are doing it happily without a problem.

Once again in front of Guintoli, Sykes takes the powder on the penultimate lap. Sylvain carefully closes the doors in the face of Loris who is more and more urgent. The RSV4 has better acceleration but the Ninja retracts and passes the corners faster … Bazooka finds the opening in the final loop.

Jonathan Rea celebrates his impeccable victory with a devastating wheelie on his Fireblade! Chaz Davies takes a superb second place at the controls of his official 1199 Panigale and Tom Sykes completes this first podium at Imola, 100% British.

Loris Baz and Sylvain Guintoli both entered the Top 5 but each lost one place in the general classification. The French will try to reach the podium and score – more – big points in the second round. Guarnoni pocketed two points thanks to his 14th place, Foret finished 16th.

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