Rea takes double in Portugal

Kawasaki's Jonathan Rea is just one round away from a possible hat trick of world superbike (WorldSBK) titles after a perfect weekend at Portimao, Portugal, on September 16-17.

Rea secured pole position and then smoked the field in both races to extend his lead in the 2017 standings to 120pts (431 to 311 over teammate Tom Sykes, who sat out the Portimao races after a nasty crash in practice.

Rea could now secure the 2017 WorldSBK title at France’s Magny-Cours from September 29-October 1.

“I don’t know what to say,” said Rea.

“These weekends don’t come so often, the circuit is really difficult to get a perfect setup. I worked on myself and not just the bike over the weekend, but everything has worked well. I got a good start, put my head down from lap one and when I saw the gap on the first lap from my pit board I couldn’t believe it.

"Then it was hard to keep the concentration for the rest of the race, but it was very rewarding and if the gap stayed consistent I knew I had a bit to respond with. I’ve never had this kind of race in my life so it’s amazing. The bike feels so nice, I am lost for words.”

Rea won the opener at Portimao ahead of Aruba.it Racing Ducati teamsters Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri, and in race two Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha) and Melandri completed the podium.

Davies crashed out of second spot in race two, ruining his chance to overtake Sykes for second place in the championship. Davies is on 296pts, ahead of Melandri (250), double Portimao crasher Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha, 169) and van der Mark (166) – who will now turn his attention to deputising for the injured Valentino Rossi at next weekend's MotoGP round at Aragon in Spain.

Aussie Anthony West began his late season tenure with Kawasaki Puccetti Racing – replacing the injured Randy Krummenacher – with 13-8 results.

Meanwhile, Sykes has undergone surgery on the fracture he sustained on his finger in Portugal. The operation took place in Barcelona, and a rapid, favourable recovery is expected.

"The doctor seems to be happy with how it went," said Sykes.

"Obviously it was a nasty break and basically snapped the little finger clean in half, so it was more than a dislocation and he found a couple of other things in the hand as well – a crack in the finger next to it and a crack on the radius on the wrist.

"I have had that injury before and raced with it four days later in Australia, so I have been able to race with a broken wrist before. We will see what happens from now on, and see how the fingers get on in the next few days."

World supersport
Reigning champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) notched his fifth win of the season, defeating championship rival Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) by just 0.08 seconds. Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) crossed the line in third.

Aussies Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) and Giuseppe Scarcella (Honda) both crashed out.

FULL RESULTS AND STANDINGS