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Australia

Donington WSBK: Rea wins red-flagged Superpole race

Jonathan Rea won a red-flagged World Superbike Superpole race at Donington Park, which was stopped due to a mass crash at the Melbourne Loop on lap seven.

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

BMW stand-in Peter Hickman's S1000RR expired on lap seven at the Melbourne Loop, depositing fluid on track.

The chasing Hondas of Ryuichi Kiyonari and Alessandro Delbianco (Althea), GRT Yamaha's Sandro Cortese, Leandro Mercado (Orelac Kawasaki) and Barni Ducati's Michael Ruben Rinaldi hit the oil, and crashed out, leading to the race being halted.

Poleman Sykes grabbed the holeshot off the line ahead of former Kawasaki teammate Rea, with Haslam on the sister KRT bike slotting into third.

Behind, Alvaro Bautista carved past Hickman at the Fogarty Esses to move his Ducati into fifth, while Toprak Razgatlioglu took third from Haslam a lap later on the Puccetti Kawasaki.

Rea shadowed Sykes for the first two laps, before making his first attempt at taking the lead at the Fogarty Esses on lap three. However, the championship leader ran in too hot, allowing Sykes to immediately strike back to regain the position.

This allowed Razgatlioglu to close in, with Haslam beginning to just lose touch with the leading trio.

Rea made another daring raid on the lead at the Esses two tours later, and successfully barged his way past Sykes.

The BMW rider regrouped to stick on Rea's back wheel, but was unable to mount another challenge when the red flags came out as the leaders started the eighth lap.

Sykes crashed on the same oil which caused the pile-up at Melbourne Loop, and was subsequently removed from the results, having been unable to return to the pitlane unaided. This promoted Razgatlioglu to second, with Haslam completing an all-Kawasaki podium.

Bautista was fourth in the end, ahead of Ten Kate Yamaha's Loris Baz and his works counterpart Alex Lowes on the Crescent-run R1.

Chaz Davies was seventh on the second works Ducati, beating Michael van der Mark (Yamaha) and final points scorer Jordi Torres (Pedercini Kawasaki).

GRT's Marco Melandri completed the top 10, while Rinaldi was the last classified runner in 11th, having remounted from his crash.

Rea's victory extends his points lead from nine to 15 over Bautista, and he will start on pole for this afternoon's second feature race.

Race results:

Cla # Rider Bike Laps Time
1 1 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea
Kawasaki 7
2 54 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu
Kawasaki 7 1.174
3 91 United Kingdom Leon Haslam
Kawasaki 7 1.666
4 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista
Ducati 7 2.289
5 76 France Loris Baz
Yamaha 7 2.784
6 22 United Kingdom Alex Lowes
Yamaha 7 3.824
7 7 United Kingdom Chaz Davies
Ducati 6 1 lap
8 60 Netherlands Michael van der Mark
Yamaha 6 1 lap
9 81 Spain Jordi Torres
Kawasaki 6 1 lap
10 33 Italy Marco Melandri
Yamaha 6 1 lap
11 21 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Ducati 6 1 lap
66 United Kingdom Tom Sykes
BMW 7
10 Peter Hickman
BMW 6
11 Germany Sandro Cortese
Yamaha 6
36 Argentina Leandro Mercado
Kawasaki 6
52 Italy Alessandro Del Bianco
Honda 6
23 Japan Ryuichi Kiyonari
Honda 6

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Edition

Australia