Rea clinches WSBK title in Jerez heat

Jonathan Rea becomes only the third Kawasaki rider to win the World Superbike title in the 27 year history of the series. Picture: WorldSBK

Jonathan Rea becomes only the third Kawasaki rider to win the World Superbike title in the 27 year history of the series. Picture: WorldSBK

Published Sep 20, 2015

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Jerez de la Frontera, Spain - Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes set the pace throughout Round 11 of the World Superbike series, setting an absolute lap record for the circuit in Superpole, leading Race 1 from lights to flag, and holding the pack at bay on a searing hot Jerez circuit for half of Race 2 before dropping back to finish fifth.

But that wasn’t enough to stop team-mate Jonathan Rea from clinching the 2015 title with two rounds to go. With 478 points to Sykes’ 353 after 11 rounds and only 100 points still up for grabs, the 27-year-old Ulsterman could no longer be beaten.

There were no less than three South Africans among in the Superstock 1000 entries, with Mathew Scholtz taking a new Yamaha R1 to a hard-fought 12th, David ‘McFlash’ McFadden finishing 19th after qualifying 22nd in his first outing on the Team Suzuki Europe GSX-R1000 L5 and fellow Capetonian Andre Calvert (Kawasaki ZX-10R) the 29th and final finisher after 15 gruelling laps of Jerez in his Superstock debut.

RACE 1

Sykes led from the start, gradually easing away from the pack to take his 26th World Superbike race win by nearly three seconds from factory Ducati rider Chaz Davies, who came in a clear second after an intense dice with the champion-elect in the early stages that must have been almost unbearable for his Kawasaki pit crew to watch.

Sanity (or team orders) prevailed after seven laps, however, and Rea cruised home to what would have been a safe third, had he not been blitzed by an unexpectedly on-form Michael van der Mark on a Pata Honda, who went on to post his third podium finish in the big class.

Factory Aprilia rider Leon Haslam battled his way through the field from 11th on the grid to join the leading group in the closing stages and was only a quarter of a second behind Rea at the line.

Davies’ Ducati Team-mate Michele Pirro finished a credible sixth, ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Lowes, Ducati privateer Matteo Baiocco, Leon Camier’s MV Agusta and defending title-holder Sylvain Guintoli (Honda) who completed the top 10.

Local hero Jordi Torres on the second works Aprilia made life difficult for himself by running off the circuit; he rejoined to finish the opening lap 18th and eventually came home 12th, four seconds adrift of compatriot David Salom on a Team Pedercini Kawasaki) who was the best placed Spanish rider.

RESULTS

RACE 2

Davies went one better than in Race 1 to win the second race of the day as the track temperature soared in the Spanish afternoon.

Unlike their earlier encounter Sykes was unable to break away after taking the hole shot for the second time. He held on to his advantage in the early stages, but the on-form Davies passed him with 10 laps to go, to post his ninth World Superbike win of his career, his fifth of the year - and his fourth in the past six races.

Davies pulled away in the second half of the race to win by nearly two seconds from Torres, who made up for his Race 1 mistake by edging Aprilia Racing Team-mate Leon Haslam at the line.

Van der Mark put in another impressive ride, only to lose the front in Turn 9 and crash out of fourth; he rejoined in 15th and made up two places by the end to salvage three points for 13th.

His crash promoted Rea and Sykes, who seemed to suffer most in the hotter conditions, to fourth and fifth respectively – but that was enough to give Kawasaki its first Manufacturer’s title.

They were followed home by Baiocco, Ducati Team rider Michele Pirro, Camier, Guintoli (in his 150th World Superbike race) and Ducati privateer Leandro Mercado.

Kawasaki’s Kenan Sofuoglu moved one step closer to his fourth World Supersport title after controlling the 19 lap race at Jerez. The Turkish rider made a perfect start from pole and led throughout to win by just over a second from PJ Jacobsen (Honda) and Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta) who chased Sofuoglu all the way but were unable to challenge for the lead.

After a steady start Kyle Smith (Pata Honda) finished fourth ahead of World Supersport debutant Nico Terol (MV Agusta), who was drafted after a crash on Friday that curtailed Jules Cluzel’s title ambitions.

Former World Superbike rider Terol moved into the top eight from the start and finished a very credible 5th after some elbow-bashing with Smith that saw him lapping almost as fast as the leaders.

Marco Faccani (Kawasaki), Alex Baldolini (MV Agusta), Christian Gamarino (Kawasaki), Kevin Wahr (Honda), and veteran Roberto Rolfo (Honda) completed the top 10.

RESULTS

SUPERSTOCK 1000

Roberto Tamburini (BMW) kept his slim title chances alive with a win at Jerez, pulling away in the early stages to cross the line a comfortable 4.6 seconds ahead of Ducati rider Raffaele De Rosa.

Lorenzo Savadori completed the podium after his Aprilia team-mate Kevin Calia crashed out of second in the closing stages. The series leader put in a strong ride in spite of a finger injury but, despite a 25-point advantage in the standings over Tamburini, he would still have to finish in the top 15 in the final race at Magny-Cours to clinch the title.

Riccardo Russo made a fine debut aboard Team GM Racing’s Yamaha ZF-R1M as he narrowly missed out on the podium, finishing fourth ahead of Jeremy Guarnoni (Yamaha), Lukas Trautmann (Yamaha) and Ducati privateers Fabio Massei and Ondrej Jezek.

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