SBK | Acerbis Czech Round, Race1: 60 times Jonathan Rea

The protagonists of the World Series Championship celebrated the return to the Brno calendar with an exciting race, full of twists and tension, at the end of which Jonathan Rea managed to write yet another page in the history of motorsport.

The “Cannibale” drove a perfect race, in which he was not affected in the slightest by the red flag interruption and the quick start procedure: Rea won as he knows how, taking the lead of the group and maintaining an unsustainable pace for everyone.

With today's victory he reaches 60 in WorldSbk and becomes the most successful rider in the history of the sport, surpassing the legend Carl Fogarty.

It wasn't easy for him as he was at the head of the group when the race was interrupted following the crashes of Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team), which led to the commissioners to display the red flag: the restart was then repeated twice due to a traffic light failure, with the race reduced to just 16 laps.

Sykes defended his position in Turn 1, but Rea took the lead a couple of corners later: in his race to the checkered flag he was also helped by Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) which put Sykes under pressure.

Rea was the only rider to go under two minutes, always maintaining a 4-5 second gap between himself and his rivals: he now has an advantage of 81 points over Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), only eighth Today.

Behind the leader, Melandri got the better of Sykes on lap four, taking second place, his best result of the season after his one-two at Phillip Island.

Down from the podium we find the two Yamaha riders, Van der Mark and Alex Lowes, while in the middle of the group there was an exciting battle between Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), sixth and seventh respectively.

Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team), who is not yet in top form, finished the race in ninth position ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), the first independent rider in Brno, while just outside the top 10 we find Yonny Hernández (Team Pedercini Racing).

Race 2 of the Acerbis Czech Round will start tomorrow at 13pm.

Below is the finishing order for Race 1:

1. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10RR 16 laps
2. Marco Melandri ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale R +5.381s
3. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10RR +7.336s
4. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Yamaha YZF-R1 +11.893s
5. Alex Lowes GBR PATA Crescent Yamaha R1 +13.145s
6. Eugene Laverty IRE Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 +14.210s
7. Lorenzo Savadori ITA Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 +17.051s
8. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale R +17.743s
9. Leon Camier GBR Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 +18.104s
10. Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Puccetti Kawasaki ZX-10RR +21.783s
11. Yonny Hernandez COL Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10RR +30.614s
12. Leandro Mercado ARG Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki ZX-10RR +31.111s
13. Roman Ramos ESP Team GoEleven Kawasaki ZX-10RR +31.188s
14. Xavi Fores ESP Barni Ducati Panigale R +31.864s
15. PJ Jacobsen USA TripleM Honda CBR1000RR SP2 +33.079s
16. Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale R +33.685s
17. Ondrej Jezek CZE Guandalini Yamaha YZF-R1 +53.662s
18. Loris Baz FRA Althea BMW S1000RR +1m

Did not finish
Jake Gagne USA Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2
Jordi Torres ESP MV Agusta 1000 F4