Jonathan Rea cruised to a record 60th world superbike race win with victory at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic today, pulling one clear of British legend Carl Fogarty. The win sees Rea extend his championship lead to 81 points over Chaz Davies as he strives to equal Foggy’s record four world titles in 2018.
“I am really happy,” said Jonathan after the race. “Of course it is hard to get super-ecstatic and go and start celebrating, although it is worth celebrating being the winningest rider in WorldSBK history, but we have another race to do tomorrow. I feel really fortunate to have this opportunity, riding a great bike and to be here every weekend. To win the 60thrace in that fashion, being dominant, was really nice. I could ride to my pit board at some points, which was also nice. It was a huge team effort, especially after coming here to test after Assen and before Imola, because it was such a tight schedule. It made yesterday less stressful because the conditions were not good for anybody. We were not so worried, because we had done two full days at Brno where we had evaluated all set-ups. We put it together from there. I’ve found an incredible l home here in world superbikes, especially here with Kawasaki. Each win is special and I want to keep going for more.”
The race was restarted after an early red flag and shortened to just 16 laps. Rea shot away into the lead and was never headed in an unusually dull race at the Czech circuit. Ducati rider Marco Melandri passed Tom Sykes, Rea’s team mate at the Kawasaki squad, for second on lap four, with the two holding station throughout the race to complete the podium positions.
Behind them the resurgent Yamahas enjoyed a battle, with double Donington winner Michael van der Mark passing team mate Alex Lowes for fourth in the closing stages, ahead of the Aprilias of Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadoro. Davies had another nightmare race on his Ducati, struggling for grip as he did at Donington Park two weeks earlier. He finished eighth, with Leon Camier and Toprak Razgatlioglu rounding out the top 10.
