Misano Adriatico, Italy - Reigning World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea ended his longest drought since moving to Kawasaki in spectacular fashion in Round eight of the World Superbike series at Misano.
Cape Town’s David ‘McFlash’ McFadden, meanwhile, battled throughout the weekend, qualifying 26th and then fighting back from a dismal start to finish the Superstock 1000 race in the same spot.
RACE 1
Rea took his first victory since Assen in a classic game of cat and mouse, holding off intense pressure from team-mate Sykes throughout the race to end his longest drought since moving to Kawasaki. Honda’s Michael van der Mark, after a storming start, completed the podium.
The drama began on lap one as Aprilia rookie Lorenzo Savadori slid off into the gravel and out of his first World Superbike race at Misano. Ducati Team leader Chaz Davies was pushed down outside the top 10 as Jordi Torres (BMW) Leon Camier (MV Agusta) and Savadori got caught up in chaos.
The biggest winner off the line was Van der Mark, who sliced through the field with a stunning launch to finish lap one in fifth, then saw Ducati Team rider Davide Giugliano lowside off the track in front of him, before Honda team-mate Nicky Hayden suffered a spectacular trip through the gravel at the final corner.
Head down and focused, Davies fought back into the top five by lap 11, on course for a good haul of points to salvage from what had seemed a disastrous start and hunting down Torres at the end to finish Race 1 fourth. Torres and Althea BMW Team-mate brought the works S1000 RRs home in fifth and sixth
Pata Yamaha’s Niccolo Canepa, riding in place of recovering Sylvain Guintoli, crossed the line seventh his and Pata’s home race, ahead of MV Agusta rider Leon Camier, who after getting tangled up at the start rode a solid recovery for MV at their home round.
Roman Ramos put in an impressive performance to take ninth for Kawasaki Team GoEleven, ahead of Anthony West on the Pedercini Kawasaki who rounded out the top 10.
RACE 2
Rea nailed the double at Misano with a classic piece of racecraft, stalking Sykes for 16 laps before making his move and then controlling the final five laps from the front to win by three seconds. Giugliano made amends for a home crash in Race 1 to complete the podium for the Ducati Team.
Rea got the jump on Sykes off the line as Yamaha’s Alex Lowes tried to muscle through on the inside, only for Sykes to swoop around the outside to take back the lead as the works Kawasaki duo started to pull an early lead.
Reiterberger highsided out of the race on the first lap in a midfield tussle at Turn 8 and was lucky to walk away; two laps later Davies upset the rhythm again with a lowside at Turn 3. Van der Mark hit the brakes, attempting to avoid the fallen Ducati, but bumped it hard enough to knock him down.
Both riders were able to remount; Davies cruised round to the pits to retire but Van der Mark began a fight back through the field, salvaging valuable points with a hard-earned 10th.
Ducati privateer Xavi Forés followed Giugliano home for an impressive fourth, ahead of Savadori, while BMW’s rider Jordi Torres had a solid ride in the tightly packed midfield battle, losing sixth to Hayden with two laps to go.
Alex Lowes came home eighth for Pata Yamaha at the team’s home round despite still suffering the after-effects of his broken collarbone in Sepang, ahead of stand-in team-mate Canepa and a charging Van der Mark.
Reigning champion Kenan Sofuoglu took another impressive win, ahead of the Hondas of rookie Federico Caricasulo and PJ Jacobsen after a three-way fight for the win. Pole sitter Caricasulo took the second podium of his rookie year, just beating Jacobsen for second despite the American having led for much of the race.
Caricasulo didn’t choke as he started from pole for the first time in World Supersports, getting away in the lead ahead of fellow front row starters Sofuoglu and Jacobsen.
Jacobsen took the lead just before half distance, holding a small margin on Caricasulo as the two started to pull away from Sofuoglu, while the winner of the past two World Supersport races at Misano, Jules Cluzel, crashed out at Turn 6.
When Sofuoglu made his move, Caricasulo immediately struck back, holding the multiple champion at bay until he ran wide with four laps to go. Sofuoglu dived through and set off after Jacobsen, passing him with a lap to go. Caricasulo, still chasing the reigning champion, passed the American on the final lap to take a stunning second in front of his home crowd.
Gino Rea worked his way up through the field to finish an impressive fourth, the first MV Agusta rider home, ahead of title contender Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki), who finished fifth after a difficult day at the office.
Lorenzo Zanetti on the second factory MV Agusta was sixth after a good ride from a poor grid position, ahead of MV Agusta privateer Alex Baldolini, and Axel Bassani (Kawasaki), Luke Stapleford (Triumph Daytona 675) and Honda rider Christoffer Bergman rounding out the top 10.
SUPERSTOCK 1000
After points leader Raffaele de Rosa (BMW) fought his way up from midfield to take the lead, key rival Leandro Mercado (Ducati) fought back and the two looked set for a classic last lap showdown. And classic it was - but not in the way they intended.
Mercado, on a completely rebuilt bike after a big crash in morning warm-up, took the early lead and the race looked under control. But De Rosa, who has been the man to beat in recent Superstock races, worked his way back up to catch the Ducati and take
The two swopped place a number of times in the closing stages but as De Rosa went for the gap again on the final lap, he lost it and took Mercado with him.
He was given two penalty points for the move and will drop three positions on the grid in the next race, at the Lausitzring in September.
That handed the win to Pata Yamaha’s Lucas Mahias, who’d put in a solid ride to pass Kevin Calia (Aprilia) and Marco Faccani for third. Calia and Faccani filled out the podium alongside Mahias after the last-lap drama.
Kawasaki rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu came home fourth, ahead of Roberto Tamburini on the second M2 Aprilia, Luca Vitali (BMW), Matteo Ferrari (BMW), Jeremy Guarnoni (Kawasaki), Andrea Mantovani (Yamaha) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who had technical problems in qualifying and had to start from the back of a 38 strong grid; the Ducati rookie put in a stunning comeback to finish 10th.