Rea sprints clear for Jerez Superpole Race win

WorldSBK Jerez – Superpole Race Results

Jonathan Rea secured his second WorldSBK Championship win of the season with another dash to the chequered flag in the Jerez Superpole Race.

The Ulsterman was defeated by burgeoning title rival Scott Redding in race one but didn’t put a foot wrong during the 10-lap sprint around the Spanish circuit to win by a comfortable margin.

Getting the holeshot up to turn one, Rea quickly developed his advantage early on as behind Toprak Razgatlioglu and Redding squabbled over second position behind him.

That battle came to a premature conclusion when Razgatlioglu struck technical problems with four laps remaining, a DNF that stands to leave him with work to do in race three from a lower starting position.

Up to second but with little opportunity to close the gap down to Rea ahead, Redding settled for second to consolidate his championship lead. With one race still to come this weekend, Redding now heads up Rea by nine points, with erstwhile table topper Lowes slipping back to third overall.

Michael van der Mark went some way to making amends for Razgatlioglu’s exit by securing his first podium of the 2020 WorldSBK season, the Dutchman finishing ahead of Yamaha counterpart Loris Baz, Ducati’s Chaz Davies and top BMW rider Tom Sykes.

Lowes made gains from his 14th place starting position to secure a better grid spot for the final race of the day with a rise to seventh position, ahead American racer Garrett Gerloff, who impressed with his ascending ride to eighth on the privateer GRT Yamaha.

Leon Haslam got the better of Honda team-mate Alvaro Bautista to claim ninth, with the Spaniard – a double race winner with Ducati in Jerez last year - following up in tenth