[WSBK] Race 1 at Brno: Johnny Rea beats Carl Fogarty's record with 60 victories

Tom Sykes achieved his 45th pole position, with a new record of 1'57.687, ahead of his Kawasaki teammate Johnny Rea. Marco Melandri placed the first Ducati in third position. On the second row, the two Yamahas of Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark flanked the Aprilia of Eugene Laverty. The other Aprilia of Lorenzo Savadori was on the third row, alongside the BMW of Loris Baz and the Ducati of Chaz Davies.

Initially, the air temperature was 25° and the air temperature was 37°. Fastest to start was Johnny Rea ahead of Tom Sykes, Alex Lowes, Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty. Loris Baz was in ninth position. Rea opened up a small gap on Tom Sykes, while Melandri threatened Lowes for third place.

A group of four took the advantage, made up of Rea, Sykes, Lowes and Melandri. Van der Mark fifth was already more than two seconds ahead of Laverty, Davies, Savadori and Baz. Jordi Torres fell without gravity. Michael Ruben Rinaldi imitated him shortly after, without serious consequences either. The race was stopped at the red flag to replace an inflatable protection punctured in the corner.

We started again for 17 laps (instead of 18 initially) with the initial starting grid. This race marked the mid-season (7th event out of a total of 13). Michael Ruben Rinaldi started from the pit lane exit due to a technical delay. The start was messed up and canceled (due to an untimely flashing of the starting lights). The procedure started again from scratch.

The best start (for 16 laps) was to Rea's credit ahead of Sykes, Lowes, Melandri, Davies, van der Mark and Laverty. Rea stood out slightly ahead of Sykes, Lowes and Melandri. Van der Mark and Davies followed closely behind. Loris Baz was in ninth position.

Behind Rea and Sykes, Melandri snatched third place from van der Mark. Then the Dutchman was overtaken by his teammate Alex Lowes. Melandri overtook Sykes for second position, 2.4 behind leader Johnny Rea. Chaz Davies lost ground when his brother-in-law Eugene Laverty took sixth position from him.

Rea opened up a solid lead of more than 3 seconds. Melandri then dominated Sykes, Lowes, van der Mark and Davies. Baz was eleventh.

The first three places stabilized, with Rea, Melandri and Sykes. The two Yamahas of Lowes and van der Mark then preceded Laverty and Davies in the fight. Van der Mark took fourth place from Lowes. Loris Baz fell without seriousness in turn 13 while he was in eleventh position.

Johnny Rea won with a comfortable lead over Marco Melandri, Tom Sykes, Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes.

This sixtieth victory allowed Jonathan Rea to become the rider with the most victories in the Superbike World Championship, with a total of 60.

Race 1 results:

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

Photos © Kawasaki, Ducati and worldsbk.com