Superbikes | Round Catalunya, Race1: Jonathan Rea dominates in front of the Ducatis

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) scores the first race in the history of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and extends his lead over his closest pursuer, Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT) to 41 points. Racing – Ducati): the reigning champion starts from pole position and always remains in command of the race.

The pursuers were unable to stop him: Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) started very well from seventh place and finished second. The Briton takes advantage of the duel that takes place between Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) and teammate Michael van der Mark who manage to stay standing at Turn 1.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) and Redding fought in the early stages of the race and then tried to catch Rea but failed. Redding finishes second while Rinaldi loses positions in the final stages and finishes seventh.
Thanks to third place for Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) there are now 54 all-British podiums in WorldSBK. Behind him at the checkered flag is van der Mark, fourth. Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) loses ground compared to his starting position and is fifth at the finish line; the Spaniard precedes Razgatlioglu. During the 15th lap Bautista runs wide at the first corner: Davies manages to take advantage of this mistake.
Rinaldi loses a lot in the final stages when he is overtaken by Davies, van der Mark and Bautista in three consecutive laps. Behind him we find Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team).
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is ninth while Leon Haslam (Team HRC) closes out the top ten. Eugene Laverty took home 11th place and finished just a tenth away from tenth place. Nice comeback for the wildcard Jonas Folger (Bonovo Action by MGM Racing) who started 21st and finished 12th.
Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) close the points. Samuele Cavalieri (Barni Racing Team) in his first appearance of the season was 16th ahead of the newly arrived Lorenzo Zanetti (Motocorsa Racing).
Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance), Takumi Takahashi (MIE Racing HONDA Team) and Valentin Debise (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR) close the standings while Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) retires in the early stages.

Below are the top six at the end of WorldSBK Race 1:

1.) Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2.) Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) +2.625
3.) Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) +4.459
4.) Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) +6.078
5.) Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) +6.989
6.) Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) +8.770