Superbikes | Navarra Round, Tissot-Superpole: Rea in seventh heaven

Spectacular Tissot Superpole at the Circuit of Navarra for the Pirelli Round: at the checkered flag the best is still Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) who thus wins his seventh consecutive pole position.

Strategy plays a fundamental role right from the start: many decide to fit qualifying tires while others go out with race tires first. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), as in Most, decides to stay in the pits in order to have a clean track. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is the first to lap in 1'36”. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) occupies second position ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK). Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was a surprise in fourth, while until a few moments before the checkered flag Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was ninth. Four of the top ten are Yamaha riders.

Five minutes from the end Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) improved a lot and moved up to second place. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) also did very well from 14th to 5th. A truly crackling finale awaits us.

Tom Sykes takes the lead but is then overthrown by Scott Redding who places an exceptional lap but not enough to beat Jonathan Rea who thus gives himself the seventh pole of the season and the 30th with Kawasaki. It is the 99th pole position for the Japanese manufacturer.
Rea becomes the second rider in the history of WorldSBK to score seven poles in a row, thus equaling Ben Spies' record which dates back to 2009, the year in which Rea was a rookie.

Opening the second row will be Andrea Locatelli, with his best career Superpole performance in WorldSBK, putting Chaz Davies behind him.
Sixth time for Lucas Mahias: for him it is the best result in Superpole.
Seventh position for Alex Lowes ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK). For the first time in 2021 in the dry, the Turk finishes behind his boxing partner.
Ninth place at the end of the session for Garrett Gerloff who did better than Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Axel Bassani.

ELSEWHERE: nightmare for Honda…
Among the big names outside the top ten we find the two Hondas of Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) and his teammate Leon Haslam, 12th and 17th respectively. Haslam finishes the Superpole behind Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team). Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was in difficulty only 13th while Suzuki's return to WorldSBK saw Naomichi Uramoto (JEG Racing) set the 20th fastest time.

Below are the top ten riders at the end of the Superpole:

1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1'36.122
2. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.093
3. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.424
4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.458
5. Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) +0.571
6. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +0.667
7. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
8. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK)
9. Garrett Gerloff
10. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)