Scott Redding won in Race 2 at the end of the first round of Superbike held in Spain, thus signing his sixth success in the category, ahead of the Kawasaki of Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes.
Last deadline of the opening of the Superbike championship in Aragón Race 2 has, as in the Superpole Race this morning was run in very uncertain grip conditions.
So much so that only Scott Redding, who started from eighth place on the grid, was the only one to opt for slick tires from the start, while his opponents favored intermediate tires at the start.
The grid for this Race 2 taking into account the results of this morning's sprint race, particularly for the establishment of the first three lines, the two Kawasakis started in the lead in front Garrett Gerloff.
The latter dove well inside to take advantage of Alex Lowes at the start, but the latter quickly regained its due a few turns further. Behind, few changes in position were to be reported, the drivers exercising caution on a very tricky track. Demonstration was made by Chaz Davies, who lost the front on the first lap and saw his hopes of a podium this weekend definitively dashed.
Starting grid for Race 2:
Credit classification and photos: WorldSBK.com
Contact between Rea and Gerloff!
In front, Gerloff did not admit defeat and held on to the Kawasaki, passing Lowes again to try to follow Jonathan Rhea, who undoubtedly decided not to tempt the devil by attacking at all costs after his first two successes in Aragon.
But is it the habit of not seeing one's domination challenged? The fact remains that Rea closed the door on an overly optimistic Gerloff on the descent of turn 8, causing the American to fall while he was left with a passage into the gravel.
Relive the collision of Gerloff and Rea on the early stages of Race 2 #AragonWorldSBK
📹 FREE VIDEO | #WorldSBK https://t.co/jNLZaxiWYi
- WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) May 23, 2021
The defending champion returned to the track in fourth position, Toprak Razgatlioglu taking advantage of the shambles to take the lead ahead of Lowes and Michael van der Mark. The leading group was then made up of five drivers, with Redding joining the party, his daring gamble on smooth tires paying off.
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 | Redding, Rea, Lowes |
| All time lap record | 1'48.860 Jonathan Rea (2020) |
Redding keeps his promise
The Ducati rider carved out the road to pass Rea on the fifth lap under acceleration, before doing the same on Lowes at the entrance to the next loop. In front of him, Van der Mark increased the pace to take the lead from Razgatlioglu, the Turk who fell through the cracks of the net set by Redding on the sixth lap.
The former MotoGP rider subsequently took advantage of all the power of his Ducati block to gain the advantage over Van der Mark in the long back straight. A certain status quo subsequently developed for a few laps, before Rea regained momentum and passed Razgatlioglu and his teammate again at mid-race.
That's how you make a comeback!💪
This time the tire gamble DOES work for @Reddingpower, with victory on slicks in Race 2!@ArubaRacing #AragonWorldSBK pic.twitter.com/AmmcHIpEO6
- WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) May 23, 2021
The number 1 then chased the leading duo, Van der Mark struggling to keep pace with his BMW on a drying track. The connection between the two men was thus established in the tenth round, the Dutchman putting up a good defense against the title holder and fighting step by step and lap after lap, at the cost of numerous counter-trajectories and other heavy braking.
Rea still achieved his goal, but the damage was done: Redding had taken advantage of the situation to build up a lead of over ten seconds, more than enough to see it coming.
The first two places acquired by the two Britons, the third continued to arouse the desire of three drivers: Van der Mark of course, who however began to suffer greatly with torn tires, but also his teammate Tom Sykes and Lowes.
Fratricidal duel at BMW
The latter took the advantage over the Batavian quite quickly, ensuring the presence of two Kawasakis on the podium, with fourth place therefore offering a duel between the two BMW drivers. But here again the Dutchman could only see the damage caused by his resistance a few laps earlier against Rea. Sykes thus took the advantage to finally obtain a valid result this weekend.
The sixth position went to Razgatlioglu, discreet to say the least during the second part of the event, the Turk who finished in front Jonas Folger and Gerloff, the latter who was able to restart following his fall but was penalized with a long lap for his collision with Rea.
The top 10 is completed by the former Moto2 rider Andrea Locatelli et Lucas Mahias, who ends this first round of the Superbike season on a good note, after constant progress all weekend. Christophe Ponsson scored his first point of the year, following his 15th place finish.
Race Results Race 2 – Superbike – Aragón:
Credit classification and photos: WorldSBK.com
