Misano WSBK: Rea inherits dominant win after Lowes crash

The race was set to start in wet conditions, but big downpour right before the formation lap resulted in the field moving into the pits instead of starting.

After a lengthy pause, pole-sitter Rea kept the lead off the line but a storming start from Lowes ended with him taking the lead at Turn 1 on the second lap.

Lowes and Rea were in a class of their own but the race lasted for only three laps before big rain returned and the red flag was waved again.

Lowes had a sluggish getaway after the second lengthy break and Rea retook the lead, the duo then again rapidly pulling away from the rest.

Unable to quickly make a move this time around, Lowes was all over Rea for several laps but he was finally able to pull off an overtake at Turn 8 on lap 7.

Lowes was able to build a gap from Rea, only to crash two laps later at Turn 11.

Rea then inherited a big lead from Tom Sykes and cruised to the finish to win for the third time this year.

Sykes was closely followed by Chaz Davies, Leon Haslam and Alvaro Bautista early on but in the end he safely secured second.

Haslam also looked set to beat the two Ducatis only to have his race also end in a crash at Turn 8.

His incident was followed by a mistake from Davies, allowing Bautista through, the Spaniard securing third.

Loris Baz also passed Davies to take an impressive fourth in his only fourth race of the season with the Ten Kate Yamaha squad.

Davies settled for fifth with a massive gap to sixth, which was hotly contested among several riders.

After crashes from Ducati tester Michele Pirro and Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Honda's Yuki Takahashi temporarily held the spot but eventually, it was Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha) securing the position.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki) and Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha) also passed Takahashi but the former crashed on the last lap.

Cortese salvaged seventh from second on the grid ahead of Takahashi, the injured Leon Camier's replacement securing the best finish of Honda's wretched season.

Lorenzo Zanetti, replacing Eugene Laverty in the GoEleven Ducati team, and Leandro Mercado (Orelac Kawasaki) completed the top 10.

Cla	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	18
2	Tom Sykes	BMW	18	3.692
3	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	18	7.756
4	Loris Baz	Yamaha	18	12.932
5	Chaz Davies	Ducati	18	15.801
6	Marco Melandri	Yamaha	18	41.963
7	Sandro Cortese	Yamaha	18	45.967
8	Yuki Takahashi	Honda	18	46.479
9	Lorenzo Zanetti	Ducati	18	47.695
10	Leandro Mercado	Kawasaki	18	48.026
11	Alessandro Del Bianco	Honda	18	49.700
12	Jordi Torres	Kawasaki	18	49.833
13	Samuele Cavalieri	Ducati	18	1'08.793
14	Ryuichi Kiyonari	Honda	18	1'13.510
15	Markus Reiterberger	BMW	18	1'36.134
	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Kawasaki	17
	Leon Haslam	Kawasaki	12
	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	10
	Alex Lowes	Yamaha	8
	Michele Pirro	Ducati	8
	Dominic Schmitter	Yamaha	8
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