Submitted by Jared Earle on
The ten lap Superpole race was contested at lower temperatures than yesterday's full-length race and would decide the grid for this afternoon's race. With almost everyone armed with the Superpole race Pirelli SCX tyre, tyre choice would not be a factor in the race.
Jonathan Rea once again got a better start than Scott Redding, consigning Redding to a fight over second place with Toprak Razgatlioglu with the pair swapping places a couple of times on the opening lap. Michael van der Mark, Loris Baz and Tom Sykes fought for the second row, but Sykes struggled to keep up with the Yamahas and on the third lap was no longer in touch with them.
Jonathan Rea set a fastest lap of 1'39.186 on the second lap and on the fifth lap he had broken free of the fight for second, as Razgatlioglu and Redding crept away from van der Mark and Baz.
Scott Redding was not used to Toprak Razgatlioglu's outside line into corners that wouldn't make it easy for him to pass, with Razgatlioglu closing to the apex regardless of whether or not Redding was inside. At the end of lap six, with Rea almost two seconds clear of the pair, Redding took a fast-out line on turn thirteen and powered past Razgatlioglu into turn one, and the pair swapped places a couple more times until Razgatlioglu's Yamaha just stopped working. Razgatlioglu put his hand up, pulled off the track, parked his bike and conceded second place and a place in the front three rows for race two.
For the last three laps, everyone in the top seven was in a lonely position, with at least a second and a half gap between every place, turning the sprint race into a high-speed procession for the remaining laps, with close racing only in the fight for eighth place, where Garrett Gerloff held off the Hondas of Leon Haslam and Alvaro Bautista.
Jonathan Rea won his second Superpole race of the year and cemented his second place in the championship behind Scott Redding. Michael van der Mark picked up the third place dropped by Toprak Razgatlioglu and Loris Baz finished top independent again.
The front row for today's full-length race will be Jonathan Rea, Scott Redding and Michael van der Mark. Se second row will be Loris Baz, Chaz Davies and Tom Sykes, ahead of Alex Lowes, Garrett Gerloff and Leon Haslam.
After Michael van der Mark's retirement yesterday and Toprak Razgatlioglu's today, Yamaha will be asking themselves some questions as they lose out to Ducati and Kawasaki's reliability in the heat.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Gap |
1 | 1 | J. REA | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | |
2 | 45 | S. REDDING | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 0.522 |
3 | 60 | M. VAN DER MARK | Yamaha YZF R1 | 2.701 |
4 | 76 | L. BAZ | Yamaha YZF R1 | 4.804 |
5 | 7 | C. DAVIES | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 1.667 |
6 | 66 | T. SYKES | BMW S1000 RR | 8.561 |
7 | 22 | A. LOWES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 11.951 |
8 | 31 | G. GERLOFF | Yamaha YZF R1 | 14.122 |
9 | 91 | L. HASLAM | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 14.285 |
10 | 19 | A. BAUTISTA | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 14.554 |
11 | 21 | M. RINALDI | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 16.337 |
12 | 12 | X. FORES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 17.268 |
13 | 50 | E. LAVERTY | BMW S1000 RR | 17.971 |
14 | 11 | S. CORTESE | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 18.741 |
15 | 77 | M. SCHEIB | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 18.786 |
16 | 64 | F. CARICASULO | Yamaha YZF R1 | 19.902 |
17 | 36 | L. MERCADO | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 20.031 |
18 | 33 | M. MELANDRI | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 25.819 |
19 | 23 | C. PONSSON | Aprilia RSV4 1000 | 26.219 |
20 | 63 | L. GABELLINI | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 36.568 |
21 | 20 | S. BARRIER | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 36.574 |
22 | 13 | T. TAKAHASHI | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 36.892 |
RET | 54 | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | Yamaha YZF R1 | 4 Laps |
Comments
It turned out to be
an aberration. Fingers crossed.