Jonathan Rea rode one of the most important races of his career to take the second race win at Donington Park, despite having to start from the fourth row of the grid because of his first day no-score.
Rea made a superb launch and was able to ride around a first corner blockage that held back the early progress of Tom Sykes. Such was Rea’s early pace that he went from tenth on the grid to first place after just one complete lap and one additional corner.
Sykes was in fifth place in lap one and eventually got to second place on lap seven. He made up time to Rea’s lead but with the laps counting down Jonathan had enough of an advantage to hold the gap and win his 46th race since he joined WorldSBK.
With Rea winning today and Tom victorious in Saturday’s race the KRT duo sit 1-2 in the championship, with Jonathan 55 points ahead; 260 to 205. Chaz Davies, third in the race today and third in the points overall, is on 185.
Now the championship will head to Italy for the seventh round, at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Racedays will be Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th June.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “I had an incredible first lap today. I had been really frustrated because I got penalised by no fault of my own yesterday in scoring no points and then penalised again with my grid position today, when I went back to tenth. I knew I had to make a good start straight away otherwise my race was over. I was really quiet today and after warm-up I was really nervous. I was going through all these scenarios in my head about what I would do with a good start, or a bad start, and then what my race plan would be. My guys worked really hard overnight to build a completely brand new bike because yesterday’s was destroyed. The first time I rode it this morning, with some set-up changes from Pere. The bike was talking to me in a way I have not had this year. So I knew today was mine if I could get a good start.”
Tom Sykes, stated: “I was closing the lead but with three laps to go I started to ‘over-ask’ from the bike in some corners. But if there were three more laps to go then I could have continued in a more calculating way and continued the progress. When I started the race I was on the inside of the grid and turn one was a complete disaster. I had to almost stop the bike because some people were trying to win the race in the first turn. We had this to deal with and then there was a crash in the last turn which made us all hesitate, so the race got off in a very bad way for me. I am disappointed to lose my Donington winning record in this way. But all things considered I was beaten fairly and Jonathan rode very well. This day had to arrive at some moment in my racing life but unfortunately it came today, even though I believe our race pace was very strong.”
2017 KRT Rider Statistics
Jonathan Rea: World Champion 2015 and 2016
2017: Races 12, Wins 8, Podiums 11, Superpoles 3
Career Race Wins: 46 (31 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 99 (57 For Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 11 (7 For Kawasaki)
Tom Sykes: World Champion 2013
2017: Races: 12, Wins 1, Podiums 9, Superpoles 1
Career Race Wins: 32 (32 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 93 (92 For Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 39 (39 For Kawasaki)
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
4 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Sykes 2013, Rea 2015 & 2016), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
2 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016)
2 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015 & 2016)
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 100 – third overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 328 – third overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 67 – second overall