WSBK, Laguna Seca J1 Free Practice 1: Johnny Rea rules the roost in the West

As the Superbike World Championship arrives in the beautiful surroundings of Monterey and Pebble Beach, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) takes 85 points from Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.IT Racing – Ducati) during the last eight races, at the same time stealing first place in the provisional general classification with an advantage now of 24 points.

Leon Camier underwent successful surgery on the ligaments in his left shoulder in the United Kingdom this Friday. He was due to be back in Portimao at the beginning of September.

Jonathan Rhea estimated that “ Weekends like Donington are not very common, but they are popular. Now we're at Laguna, which is another great track with great fan support. People love Superbikes here in the USA. It's a very iconic track, with The Corkscrew and Turn One as well ».

“I had a great weekend here last year and enjoyed it. You can ride your motorcycle in the sun, so that's pretty cool. It is very important to stay healthy and arrive here in great shape as there is a long summer break afterwards. It has to count.”

Alvaro Bautista sees the situation less optimistically: “Unfortunately, because of my crashes, we are now in second place in the standings, which could be good for the championship but not so much for me! ».

“If I look at the layout of Laguna Seca, I can say that it is not one of the best tracks for us, because when we have bumps and ups and downs we can struggle, but as I been saying it all year, I have no expectations. I prefer to see what happens, work hard with my team and make the most of the weekend.”

Loris Baz had made the transatlantic journey with hope: “I understand motorcycling more and more. Everything becomes much more natural and I can anticipate each of the machine's reactions. At Donington I spent most of the time ahead of Alex Lowes trying to close the gap on Leon Haslam and Bautista. Lowes then overtook me and I started having some difficulties. I then adjusted my trajectories to stay in contact. It wasn't enough, but I finished a stone's throw from the podium and seven seconds from victory after losing a few positions in the first round ».

“We are still losing a little too much time at the start. This is something we need to work on. Despite everything, I am very happy! This is only our third weekend and we already have two fourth places as well as a fifth and a sixth place in the dry. I also finished twice with the status of best Yamaha rider… We have to continue this momentum at Laguna Seca, a track which, I think, can suit the Yamaha! ".

We noted the presence of a US wildcard driver: JD Beach (Attack Performance Estenson Racing Yamaha) which is also racing this weekend in the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship. “ I'm really excited to race at Laguna Seca, Beach said. It will be a tough weekend as I will be riding in MotoAmerica Superbike and WorldSBK, but I am up for the challenge. Laguna Seca is a track that I really like. I had a lot of fun there ».

“The last time I came was in 2011. I think it’s going to be a great weekend. I hope we can fight for the victory or the podium in MotoAmerica, and if with that we can place in the top 10 in WorldSBK, it would really be a great weekend for me and the team ". Starting Race 1 on Saturday, Beach will be the 70th American rider to start in the WorldSBK class. Six of them – Fred Merkel, Doug Polen, Scott Russell, John Kocinski, Colin Edwards et Ben Spies – were crowned World Champion.

FP1: First Californian run favorable to Jonathan Rea

The big question was which machine would be more at home at Laguna Seca Raceway. Kawasaki has won five of the last six races, except Race 1 in 2017 where victory went to Davies and Ducati. Seven of their nine victories and 16 of their 22 podiums have been scored since 2013 by Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes. But Ducati leads the Californian rankings with 13 victories and 41 podiums. Ducati has 10 pole positions, while its opponents have 6 (3 for Kawasaki and 1 for Honda, Suzuki, and Aprilia).

Which machine would dominate? The ZX-10R which has covered thousands of laps at Laguna Seca, or the Panigale V4 R which has never faced this track in WSBK configuration? The only Ducati Panigale V4 R racing in MotoAmerica is driven by Kyle Wyman on behalf of his own Kyle Wyman Racing team, but with different technical regulations and Dunlops.

The first reference time was achieved by Loris Baz in 1'25.361. Toprak Razgatlioglu was ahead of him in 1'25.040. The Kawasaki factory wanted to hire the Turkish rider in its factory team for 2020, but its manager Kenan Sofuoglu demanded that the factory bike be entered by Puccetti Racing and not by KRT (Provec).

Chaz Davies, current lap record holder, took the lead in 1'24.413 ahead of Tom Sykes. Alex Lowes overtook him in 1'24.231. Jonathan Rea picked up the pace in 1'23.627 halfway through the session. Bautista was then 5th at 0.9.

Johnny Rea then progressed to 1'23.440 with relatively large leads of 0.7 over Lowes, 0.8 over Davies, 1.0 over Sykes and 1.1 over Bautista. Loris Baz was eighth at 1.4 with about a quarter of an hour to go.

At the end of the session, Rea remained out of reach of his opponents. Sykes was the most threatening at 0.5. Bautista was 7th at 1.030 and Baz 8th at 1.148.

Ranking of the first free practice session: