Aragon WSBK: Rea leads Kawasaki 1-2 in damp Superpole race

Redding got the holeshot from second on the grid to take the lead into Turn 1, only for polesitter Rea to fight back and snatch the top spot at the following corner.

Redding, Rea and Lowes continued to battle for the remainder of the opening lap, with each of the trio enjoying brief stints at the front.

Redding ended lap 1 in the lead but soon began to struggle on his wet tyres, allowing first Rea and then Lowes to surge ahead.

Once out in front, the Kawasakis edged ahead of the remainder of the field, with Rea eventually claiming his 101st WSBK race win by 3.506s from Lowes to secure pole position for the final race of the weekend.

After losing the lead at the start of lap 2, Redding continued to drop down the order, crossing the finish line in a disappointing eight position with a fastest lap that was three seconds slower than Rea’s best time.

Redding’s struggles promoted the GRT Yamaha of Garrett Gerloff to the final spot on the podium, the American rider charging from 10th at the end of the opening lap on slick tyres.

Chaz Davies finished as the top Ducati rider in fourth on the GoEleven Panigale V4 R, while new BMW recruit Michael van der Mark rose up the order on dry-weather tyres to take fifth at the flag.

Both Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu and lead Honda rider Alvaro Bautista demoted Redding at the chicane with four laps to go to claim sixth and seventh positions respectively, the two separated by just 0.223s at the finish.

One-time MotoGP starter Kohta Nozane made it three Yamaha bikes in the points with a ninth place finish on the GRT-run R1, as Leon Haslam rounded out the top 10 on the second of the factory Hondas.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi was classified 11th on the works Ducati, while BMW’s Tom Sykes retired from the race after struggling on full wets having started on the front row.

Superpole race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	1	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	19'47.979
2	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	19'51.485	3.506
3	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	19'53.030	5.051
4	7	Chaz Davies	Ducati	19'56.887	8.908
5	60	Michael van der Mark	BMW	19'58.154	10.175
6	54	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	20'17.321	29.342
7	19	Alvaro Bautista	Honda	20'17.544	29.565
8	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	20'21.340	33.361
9	3	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	20'21.654	33.675
10	91	Leon Haslam	Honda	20'22.750	34.771
11	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	20'24.430	36.451
12	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	20'26.688	38.709
13	94	Jonas Folger	BMW	20'29.167	41.188
14	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati	20'39.954	51.975
15	32	Isaac Viñales	Kawasaki	20'40.623	52.644
16	50	Eugene Laverty	BMW	20'40.891	52.912
17	47	Axel Bassani	Ducati	20'55.308	1'07.329
18	36	Leandro Mercado	Honda	21'03.583	1'15.604
19	23	Christophe Ponsson	Yamaha	21'04.438	1'16.459
20	84	Loris Cresson	Kawasaki	21'05.084	1'17.105
	66	Tom Sykes	BMW	3 laps
	76	Samuele Cavalieri	Kawasaki	7 laps
	44	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	8 laps
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