RACE TWO WORLD SBK
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) took some time and effort to pass long time leader Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) but he finally triumphed by 1.804 seconds, to take an amazing 14th race win of the 2018 season. He has won the last eight races in succession.
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK) pushed on from his second row starting position to take the final podium position in third.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) overhauled the initially fast front row starter Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) for fourth place, keeping Melandri fifth.
Over 11 seconds back from Rea, Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) was sixth and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK) seventh.
Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team Ducati) won a last lap battle with Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) for eighth, while race long scrapper on home soil, Loris Baz (GULF ALTHEA BMW Racing Team), go the better of his two combative companions,Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) for tenth. Jake Gagne was 16th and just missed out on a championship point in 16th place.
Rea now has a points total of 470, Davies has 335, van der Mark 309 and Sykes 273.
Cluzel Wins To Compress The Championship Fight in WSSP
At his home round in France, Jules Cluzel (NRT Yamaha) ensured that he would remain firmly in the championship battle against points leader Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing Yamaha). The German rider finished second to him today, by just 1.7 seconds. The gap from Cortese to Cluzel is now 11 points. Cortese was followed onto the podium by another French rider, Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) in a close battle as the season winds down.
The WorldSSP Championship seldom fails to deliver drama and Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) added more when he fell on the closing laps, fighting for a podium but dropping vital points. He would restart and finish 13th.
Thomas Gradinger (NRT Yamaha) turned his potential into the reality of fourth place, one place up on another possible champion,Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha).
Early fast man Corentin Perolari (Yamaha GMT94) was finally sixth, and top MV rider today was again Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag), in seventh.
Kyle Smith (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) got top Honda honours, eighth, with official Ninja ZX-6R pairing Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Hector Barbera (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) rounding out the top ten places. Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing Yamaha) was 15th on his R6.
The points standings, with two rounds to go, are Cortese 169, Cluzel 158, Krummenacher 140 and Caricasulo 132.
Next round is a new adventure for all in Argentina, two weekends from now.
By Gordon Ritchie
