Great Britain’s Jonathan Rea of Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK (left) storms ahead in Race 1 of the WorldSBK final round at the Losail International Circuit, yesterday.
Doha: The 2019 Motul FIM Superbike World Champion Jonathan Rea yesterday extended his dominance to secure Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK the Manufacturers’ Championship with one more race to go at the Losail Inetrnational Circuit.
Even though the Qatar round of the prestigious series makes no change at the top of the standings, a determined Rea gave his best before reaching the chequered flag in 1’57.307.
After a season of terrific highs and unrivalled success, Kawasaki clinched the Manufacturers’ Championship for a fifth time with victories for Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing).
Steaming off from pole position, Rea took the holeshot down into Turn 1, fending off a fast-starting Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). However, Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) got ahead of the BMW rider and the front four were as they were. Other good getaways came from Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati), up from 12th to sixth and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing), from 10th to seventh.
At the beginning of Lap 2, Davies advanced to fourth after Sykes and Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) outbroke themselves following a tiny collision. Haslam slipped back into the clutches of Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati). By the end of Lap 2, Bautista was seventh and Haslam had dropped to eighth.
On Lap 6, Cortese crashed out of fourth place at Turn 7, after just being passed by Davies. This promoted Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) to sixth, before the Dutchman scythed ahead of Razgatlioglu to pinch fifth.
The battle for third however was looking like it would go the way of Alex Lowes, who was up in second, while team-mate van der Mark and 2020 Pata Yamaha replacement Razgatliolgu were fifth and sixth.
Into the second half of the race, the gap at the front was still the same, with no move made from Lowes just yet. The duelling Brits at the front were running their own pace, Davies was still running a solid third.
With eight laps to go, Haslam took sixth place from Razgatlioglu at Turn 1.
With six laps to go, Toprak Razgatlioglu got it all wrong going into Turn 6, with his bike snapping sideways in an aggressive manner. The Turkish rider took to the gravel and somehow kept it upright, but slipped from seventh to 13th, seriously hurting the 23-year-old’s chances of third overall in the Championship. In the battle for fifth, Leon Haslam was now ahead of van der Mark, passing the Dutchman at Turn 1 with five laps remaining.
Despite closing down the gap to Rea, Davies couldn’t get the better of the Northern Irishman’s metronomic consistency. Rea took another victory, his fourth at Losail that also gave Kawasaki the Manufacturers’ Championship. Davies came from 12th to second in an impressive fightback, whilst Alex Lowes came home third. Alvaro Bautista was fourth in a quiet race for the Spaniard behind the all-British podium, whilst prevailing in the battle for fifth was Leon Haslam, seeing off Michael van der Mark on the run to the line.
Loris Baz was a strong seventh place, whilst it was a classy eighth place for Markus Reiterberger, with his first top ten since the Tissot Superpole Race at Imola. Ninth place went to Ireland’s Eugene Laverty (Team Goeleven), who had a strong ride into the top ten, whilst Leon Camier (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) made it all manufacturers represented inside the top ten. Toprak Razgatlioglu recovered to 11th.
