Superbike: Jonathan Rea wins Race 1 in Sepang

This morning Jonathan Rea declared that he was in no rush for the title, given that Sepang was only the first match point, but in the race he definitely contradicted himself: he started very strong, fought against tire wear, and on the last lap he overtook Chaz Davies.

Twenty-five points which make the title a mere formality, with the possibility of settling it already in Race 2.

The protagonist of the race, however, is Max Biaggi who at 44 years old, after years of retirement from competitions, achieved an amazing third place on the last lap over Tom Sykes, demonstrating great physical endurance and cunning in conserving the tires until the end.
In fact, the feeling was that Max paid for the bad start and the very difficult first laps, in which he accumulated a large gap, otherwise perhaps he could have battled with the first two.
Davies in second was also the author of a fantastic race: starting well, he managed to keep the tires until the end, to overtake Sykes and make the final assault on Rea, who only got the better of the Ducati rider at the finish line.

The one who suffered a lot in the end was Tom Sykes who started off strong and immediately set record times only to collapse at the end, paying the price for this behavior and ultimately finishing fifth behind Sylvain Guintoli.
Like him also Jordi Torres who never managed to make them work: for him a very disappointing tenth place.
Sixth was Alex Lowes, seventh was Leon Haslam who also suffered chronic tire wear, eighth was Baiocco who got the better of teammate Niccolo Canepa in the final, ninth.

Appointment at 10:30 with Race 2.
Below is the ranking at the end of Race 1:

1. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R 16 laps
2. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team 1199R +0.121s
3. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing Team RSV4 +10.695s
4. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Honda World Superbike Team CBR1000RR +15.433s
5. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R +17.983s
6. Alex Lowes GBR VOLTCOM Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 +23.758s
7. Leon Haslam GBR Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils RSV4 +24.854s
8. Matteo Baiocco ITA Althea Racing 1199R +28.306s
9. Niccolo Canepa ITA Althea Racing 1199R+31.098s
10. Jordi Torres ESP Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils RSV4 +34.105s
11. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini ZX-10R +37.107s
12. Randy De Puniet FRA VOLTCOM Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 +37.378s
13. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta Reparto Corse F4RR +39.656s
14. Roman Ramos ESP Team Go Eleven ZX-10R +43.451s
15. Leandro Mercado ARG BARNI Racing Team 1199R +48.476s
16. Christophe Ponsson FRA Team Pedercini ZX-10R +1m 01.166s
17. Gabor Rizmayer HUN BMW Team Toth S1000RR +1m 24.006s
18. Alex Phillis AUS Grillini SBK Team ZX-10R +1m 31.093s
19. Imre Toth HUN BMW Team Toth S1000RR +2m 02.124s 

Not Classified
Gianluca Vizziello ITA Grillini SBK Team ZX-10R 7 laps completed
Michael VD Mark NED PATA Honda World Superbike Team CBR1000RR 7 laps completed