WSBK Superbike Aragón Course SP: Rea and Kawasaki continue

As in Race 1, Jonathan Rea won the Superpole Race ahead of his teammate Alex Lowes. Garrett Gerloff finished on the last step of the podium.

After the warm-up to get warmed up on this rainy Sunday day in Aragón, the Superbike set the stage again a little later in the morning with the Superpole Race. Appearing in 2019 and taking place between Races 1 and 2, this reduced format event (ten laps) allows you to collect additional points for the championship, although with a reduced scale.

As in Eurovision, the winner is in fact awarded 12 points, while the second pockets 9, the third 7, and so on until ninth place. Another notable fact, the classification of the Superpole Race determines the hierarchy of the first three rows of the grid for Race 2, the second part of the table remaining consistent with the results obtained during the Superpole on Saturday morning.

If the main mission of this real sprint is to increase the spectacle, the track, which had just dried up after being completely soaked during the warm-up, already promised a lively race in itself.

Summary of the results of the 2020 edition:

WSBK Superbike Aragon	August 2020	May 2021
FP1	1'50.543 Chaz Davies	1'49.952 Toprak Razgatlioglu
FP2	1'50.865 Jonathan Rea	1'50.400 Chaz Davies
FP3	1'50.287 Jonathan Rea	1'49.695 Toprak Razgatlioglu
Super poles	1'48.860 Jonathan Rea	1'48.458 Jonathan Rea
Race 1	Redding, Davies, Rea	Red, Lowes, Razgatlioglu
Warm Up	1'50.142 Jonathan Rea	2'02.530 Alex Lowes
Superpole race	Rea, Redding, Van der Mark	Rea, Lowes, Gerloff
Race 2	Rea, Davies, Bautista
All time lap record	1'48.860 Jonathan Rea (2020)

 

Quick lead for Redding

It was indeed, at least during the first two rounds, when Scott Redding took the best flight to make the interior Jonathan Rhea at the first turn. The Ducati rider nevertheless veered too wide and was immediately caught, but still managed to give back to the Northern Irishman a little further into the first lap.

A lead ride that didn't last long, the Kawasaki riders getting into gear after an internal battle during the first loop. Once this skirmish ended in favor of the reigning World Champion, Rea and alex lowes had plenty of time to catch up and then overtake Redding, who would subsequently gradually descend in the hierarchy to finish in a distant eighth position.

If the hypothesis of a new double for Kawasaki was quickly confirmed, the fight for third place offered a bitter battle between Garrett Gerloff et Chaz Davies. The latter, who started from fifth position on the grid, had a sluggish start before raising his voice and fighting for an entry into the top 3. However, he failed at the foot of the podium, fourth, after having dropped his pace in limit switch.

Behind, the surprise came from Michael van der Mark. Very comfortable in the wet conditions of the day, the Dutchman made his way through the peloton to move up from 15th place on the grid. The number 60 finished in fifth place, an excellent result after a difficult first part of the weekend.

Razgatlioglu holds his own against Bautista

Present on the podium of Race 1 yesterday, Toprak Razgatlioglu was less successful this time with sixth place at the finish. The Turk fought until the end with Alvaro Bautista, obtaining the last word after an intense battle.

Tom Sykes was for his part forced to abandon. Too bad for the BMW driver, who started from third position and moved to fourth place at the very start of the race. Abandonment also for the French Lucas Mahias, while the other French driver on the board, Christophe Ponsson, finished the race in 19th place.

At the front, Rea easily won with a large lead over his teammate, which sometimes peaked up to five seconds. This new double and especially the ease with which it was obtained raises the question of a new hegemony on the part of the Kawasaki, which nevertheless return 1500 rpm to the Ducatis this season.

The opponents of Rea and Lowes will, however, have a new chance to compromise this emerging domination this afternoon, with Race 2 scheduled to start at 14 p.m.

Results Superpole Race – Superbike – Aragón:

Credit classification and photos: WorldSBK.com