Jonny Rea back on the top step of the podium with Misano Race One Victory
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea has taken his first victory since Assen in a classic game of cat and mouse at Misano World Circuit, holding off intense pressure from teammate Tom Sykes throughout the Race to cross the line for another win in 2016 – ending his longest drought before moving to Kawasaki. Honda’s Michael van der Mark, after a storming start, completed the podium in P3 as the Dutchman moved back up the grid to where he belongs after a more difficult Superpole 2.
A drama filled first part of Lap 1 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 was pushed down outside the top ten as Torres, Camier and Savadori got caught up in chaos, and the biggest winners off the line were undoubtedly Honda’s Michael van der Mark and Pedercini’s Anthony West, with the Australian moving well into the top ten.
Van der Mark, who pulled through the field with a stunning launch and first lap to cross the line at the end of Lap 1 in P5, then saw Ducati rider Davide Giugliano lowside off the track in front of him, before Honda teammate Nicky Hayden suffered a spectacular trip through the gravel at the final corner.
Davies was left with a fight back after having needed to sit up, and Aruba.it teammate Giugliano got going again to also face the uphill battle through the field at the Ducati team’s second home Race of the year, with the Italian eventually coming home in P14. Head down and focused, Davies fought back into the top 5 by lap 11, on course for a good haul of points to salvage from what had seemed a disastrous start and hunting down Jordi Torres to end Race 1 just off the podium in P4.
Torres ended Althea BMW’s Race 1 in P5 for the team at home, just ahead of Althea teammate Markus Reiterberger, who debuted as a wildcard at Misano last year and crossed the line in P6 in another good rookie showing, competing a fantastic first Race of the home round for the Althea BMW team.
Pata Yamaha’s Niccolo Canepa, riding in place of recovering Sylvain Guintoli, crossed the line in P7 at his and Pata’s home race in an impressive showing, ahead of MV Agusta rider Leon Camier, who after getting tangled up at the start rode a solid recovery for MV at their home Round.
Roman Ramos put in an impressive performance to take P9 for Team GoEleven, ahead of Anthony West on the Pedercini Kawasaki who rounded out the top ten.
Milwaukee BMW’s Josh Brookes crossed the line in P11 in a solid performance, ahead of Aprilia’s Alex De Angelis at his closest circuit to home.
The second Pata Yamaha machine of Alex Lowes crossed the line in P13 after the Brit suffered a run off early on, an impressive showing nonetheless as the former British Champion recovers from a broken collarbone, with Giugliano in P14 ahead of Pavel Szkopek competing the points in P15.
P1 – Jonathan Rea –Â Kawasaki Racing Team
“For me this is a really important race win because it’s been a long time now. Yesterday we did a long run and it felt really good, then today the tyre behaved completely differently, the same tyre. We had some more degrees in the track and we need to look at that for tomorrow, because we didn’t expect that much drop. But in the end with the fight with Tom it was clear that I did what I had to do today and that was to win. Tomorrow I am sure we can improve because the last laps were a little bit painful.”
P2 – Tom Sykes –Â Kawasaki Racing Team
“I’m disappointed not to be able to get my nose in front where I wanted to on the last few laps. You know that is a shame but we’ll learn from this and try to be stronger tomorrow. The tyre was also working quite hard, we saw that from both the Kawasakis. But overall the pace was acceptable and tomorrow we’ll have one more go. Credit to Jonathan on the victory.”
P3 – Michael van der Mark –Â Honda World Superbike Team
“The start was ok, then I was lucky with some guys who crashed at turn 2. Those crashes were like a warning for me, but that is racing, you have to be consistent and stay on the bike. I saw that Chaz was closing and I was counting in my head but I had to move on and try to stay as consistent as possible. I knew that my last couple of laps should be my strongest ones and even though I had some problems with the bike I finished on the podium and that is what we needed after those last couple of rounds.”
Race 2 will reset the grid once again on Sunday, as lights go out for the final showdown in Misano at 13:00 local time (GMT +2).
WorldSBK 2016 – Misano – Superbike Race One Results
- Jonathan Rea Kawasaki Racing Team
- Tom Sykes Kawasaki Racing Team +0.090
- Michael van der Mark Honda World Superbike Team +3.093
Championship Standings after Race 1
- Jonathan Rea Kawasaki Racing Team 318
- Tom Sykes Kawasaki Racing Team   257
- Chaz Davies Aruba.it Racing – Ducati 244
WorldSSP: Rookie Caricasulo Takes Stunning Pole
WorldSSP rookie Federico Caricasulo has taken an incredible pole position at his home Round at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, beating reigning Champion Kenan Sofuoglu to the top spot by half a tenth. Honda rider PJ Jacobsen completes the front row in P3.
World Supersport Superpole 1 saw a last minute dash to the top of the timesheets, with Sepang winner Ayrton Badovini heading Profile Racing’s Luke Stapleford to move into Tissot-Superpole 2 to join the top ten from Friday. With Randy Krummenacher having been quickest in FP3, the fight for the front row looked set to be titanic, and the tumbling lap times didn’t disappoint.
As the flag dropped at the end of the session, Krummenacher found himself marginally off the front row as Jacobsen edged him by a few hundredths, but the Misano veteran will be looking to push forward immediately in the Race. Second Italian representative at home Christian Gamarino will start from the middle of the second row, ahead of Ayrton Badovini and top ESS rider Alessandro Zaccone.
The rider to have won the last two Races at Misano, Jules Cluzel, starts from P8 at MV Agusta Reparto Corse’s home Round, ahead of Ilya Mikhalchik in P9 and Luke Stapleford rounding out the top ten.
Aiden Wagner qualified 27th, obviously still struggling to find a competitive set-up on the GRT MV, while young Lachlan Epis will start from 35th on the grid.
WorldSSP Superpole
- Federico Caricasulo Bardahl Evan Bros Honda Racing 1:38.097
- Kenan Sofuoglu Kawasaki Puccetti Racing +0.057
- PJ Jacobsen Honda World Supersport Team +0.503
