Reigning Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) champion, Johnathan Rea and Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT) have clinched their fourth straight championship title.
The 2018 championship was sealed at the Magny-Cours circuit in France this weekend when Rea won Race 1 (there are two races per round). It was Rea’s 8th consecutive and 13th total victory of the year.
Judging from the results, Rea and Kawasaki made the least mistakes for the rest to capitalize on. The Northern Irish rider finished only twice off the podium and retired once so far. Besides the 13 wins, he finished second on three occasions and once in third.
In terms of statistics, Rea had won 63% of the races and was on the podium for 86% after 23 races this season. He now has the chance of setting a new record for the most wins in a season.
Rea is only the second racer to win four WSBK titles after Carl Fogarty, but he is the first to achieve the milestone back-to-back.
Pundits are quick to point out that Rea’s amazing achievement is due to other teams lacking full factory support and that his competitors’ bikes are pretty old to some extent. If this is true, we shall see how the new Ducati Panigale V4 does next year in the hands of Chaz Davies and Alvaro Bautista. Honda is also rumored to be coming up with a new V4-powered CBR1000RR.
In the meantime however, the man of the moment is Jonathan Rea, who is the current King of Superbikes. Long live the King!
Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT) are 2017 WSBK champions after blitzing the field in Race 1 at the Magny-Cours Circuit in France, with two rounds and five races to go.
Rea charged into the lead from pole positioned and pulled clear of the pack, and continued to put the hammer down throughout the 21-lap race in treacherous wet-drying conditions. This latest win gave him the 12th victory of the season, making him the first WorldSBK rider to win three successive titles.
Jonathan Rea charged to an excellent victory at the Magny-Cours circuit in France on Saturday to secure a historic third consecutive WorldSBK title, crossing the line over 16 seconds ahead of second placed Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) finishing third.
It was a truly gritty ride from Rea’s teammate Sykes as the Yorkshireman returned to action with a third place result, having had surgery on a finger injury less than two weeks ago – after a Portimao crash. Sykes completed the podium after just losing out on second place to Melandri in the final stages of the race.
Five seconds off the rostrum positions was Leon Camier who had another excellent ride for MV Agusta Reparto Corse. Another 19 seconds back on his compatriot Camier was Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) who rounded out the top five.
Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) were sixth and seventh respectively, whilst Davide Giugliano (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) was the eighth rider home.
Early in the race there was a crash for Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), which also saw Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) go down, but remarkably Dutchman Van der Mark fought back to finish ninth, ahead of Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).
Race 2 at the Pirelli French Round will get going at the 4.411km Magny-Cours track at 7pm Malaysian time on Sunday.
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