Qatar WSBK: Rea takes dominant 15th win of 2017
Jonathan Rea added a 15th World Superbike victory to his 2017 tally after taking a lights-to-flag win in Friday's first race in Qatar.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
With a better start than fellow front-row starters Alex Lowes and Tom Sykes, Rea comfortably led into Turn 1, and quickly pulled away from his chasers.
Behind him, Kawsaki teammate Sykes was initially holding second but soon started to fade, dropping behind Lowes' Yamaha and the Ducatis of Chaz Davies, Xavi Fores and Marco Melandri.
Davies and Fores both went past Lowes for second and third, with the latter challenging the former before his Barni-run machine slowed down.
Lowes was back into third after Fores' retirement but only for a handful of laps, as the Yamaha rider ended up crashing out at Turn 9.
That promoted Marco Melandri into the final podium spot, the factory Ducati duo finishing second and third, five and 10 seconds behind Rea respectively.
Sykes had to settle for sixth and will start the final race of the season 10 points behind Davies in the fight for the runner-up spot in the standings.
Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori both passed Sykes for fourth and fifth places, the first time both Milwaukee Aprilia riders finished in the top five this year.
Jordi Torres (Althea BMW), who will race for MV Agusta next year, was seventh, ahead of Puccetti Kawasaki's Sylvain Guintoli, Leon Camier (MV Agusta), and Roman Ramos (GoEleven Kawasaki).
Lowes' Yamaha teammate Michael van der Mark also crashed during the race, touching the rear of Sykes' bike at Turn 7.
Race 1 results:
| Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jonathan Rea |
Kawasaki | - |
| 2 | Chaz Davies |
Ducati | 4.944 |
| 3 |  Marco Melandri |
Ducati | 10.405 |
| 4 |  Eugene Laverty |
Aprilia | 12.052 |
| 5 | Lorenzo Savadori |
Aprilia | 12.339 |
| 6 | Tom Sykes |
Kawasaki | 15.587 |
| 7 |  Jordi Torres |
BMW | 16.789 |
| 8 |  Sylvain Guintoli |
Kawasaki | 17.869 |
| 9 | Leon Camier |
MV Agusta | 18.494 |
| 10 | Roman Ramos |
Kawasaki | 22.660 |
| 11 | Jeremy Guarnoni |
Kawasaki | 36.011 |
| 12 |  Jake Gagne |
Honda | 38.237 |
| 13 | Roberto Rolfo |
Kawasaki | 49.659 |
| 14 |  Ondrej Jezek |
Kawasaki | 50.079 |
| Ret | Alex Lowes |
Yamaha | - |
| Ret | Xavi Fores |
Ducati | - |
| Ret | Raffaele De Rosa |
BMW | - |
| Ret |  Michael van der Mark |
Yamaha | - |
| Ret | Davide Giugliano |
Honda | - |
| Ret | Alessandro Andreozzi |
Yamaha | - |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Honda reveals 2020 World Superbike challenger
Redding: Bautista cost himself 2019 WSBK crown
Espargaro: Aprilia showed podium pace at Sepang
Rea gets first taste of Yamaha WSBK machinery in Jerez test
Rea signs two-year Yamaha WSBK deal after Kawasaki exit
Kawasaki announces Rea's exit ahead of Yamaha switch
Kawasaki signs Bassani to replace Yamaha-bound Rea in WSBK
Lowes to skip Aragon WSBK round after knee surgery
Bassani on pole position for Rea’s Kawasaki WSBK ride
Porsche lodges appeal over da Costa's Misano Formula E disqualification
Ricky Taylor looking for redemption at Long Beach
How Senna’s early Pacific GP exit raised his Benetton suspicions
What could have been: When Villeneuve’s shock return thwarted an F1 rookie
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments