Rea at the double
The world superbike champion was back to his brilliant best at Misano as he extended his lead in the standings to 66ptsJonathan Rea just loves to finish the job, and he proved that again during round eight of the 2016 Superbike World Championship at Misano on June 19.
The Northern Irish claimed the 10th clean sweep — victory in both races — of his WorldSBK career, only the third riser to reach the double figure mark after Carl Fogarty and Australia's Troy Bayliss.
Rea won both races from Kawasaki teammate4 Tom Sykes, while Michael van der Mark (Honda) and Davide Giugliano (Ducati) shared the third places.
Rea now leads the championship by 66ptsw (343 to 277) over Sykes with five rounds remaining.
“For many reasons I really wanted to win here and to make it a double is incredible,"
said Rea. "I love racing here; it is where I had my first career WorldSBK race win.
"Approaching the mid part of the season I had said many times just how important the next two races would be before the summer break, so to make it count this weekend is really good."
A drama-filled first part of lap one in race one saw Lorenzo Savadori fall foul of a tussle just behind the front few bikes, with the Aprilia sliding off into the gravel and sadly seeing the Italian rookie unable to finish his first WorldSBK race in Misano. Chaz Davies (Ducati) was pushed down outside the top 10 as Jordi Torres (BMW), Leon Camier (MV Agusta) and Savadori got caught up in chaos, and the biggest winners off the line were undoubtedly van der Mark and Australia's Anthony West (Kawaski), with the Australian moving well into the top 10.
Other action saw Giugliano lowside off the track, while Honda's Nicky Hayden suffered a spectacular trip through the gravel at the final corner.
Rea led from go-to-whoa, holding off intense pressure from Sykes, with van der Mark third from Davies, Torres and Markus Reiterberger (BMW).
In race two, Xavi Fores (Ducati), Savadori and Hayden completed the top six while those to DNF included Davies (crash) — who also took out van der Mark in the process — Camier (technical issue) and Reiterberger, who touched the back of another rider and was flung in the air, fracturing his T13 vertebra.
West finished 10-11 in the two races, while compatriot Josh Brookes (BMW) went 11-14.
The next round will take place at Laguna Seca in California from July 8-10.
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