Reigning WorldSBK Champion Jonathan Rea extended his unbeaten Superpole race streak to four at Aragon this morning and clipped back Scott Redding’s points lead to just two.
Rea was beaten to the holeshot by Ten Kate Yamaha’s Loris Baz but was past on the exit of turn one and didn’t look back, putting the SCX rear to good use to make his escape for the win.
Redding took a while to make his way past the Frenchman but had no answer for Rea and the Kawasaki while Michael van der Mark bagged third place for Yamaha and his first podium at the Spanish track.
Alvaro Bautista took his best result of the season so far, taking fourth place which puts him in the middle of row two for this afternoon's second feature race.
Chaz Davies was in a lap-one collision with Tom Sykes after opting for the stock SC0 Pirelli - the only rider to do so - but took fifth and is in a place now to take advantage of the pace he showed yesterday.
Alex Lowes, who has magnanimously taken responsibility for his highside yesterday even though it looked like an electronics issue, finished in sixth.
Yamaha's Toprak Razgatlioglu is still struggling at Aragon with illness but finished in seventh place, one ahead of Michael Rinaldi. Baz slipped back to ninth place while Leon Haslam will be disappointed with tenth.
After clipping Davies, Sykes careered off track in the exact same place he crashed in Superpole, tried to stop but re-joined on the same bit of track occupied by Tati Mercado, which caused the Argentine to crash and visit the medical centre. He has been declared unfit.
Eugene Laverty finished just outside the points in 16th, one ahead of Marco Melandri.
Top ten top speeds
1 7 C. DAVIES Ducati Panigale V4 R 326,3
2 19 A. BAUTISTA Honda CBR1000RR-R 325,3
3 45 S. REDDING Ducati Panigale V4 R 324,3
4 33 M. MELANDRI Ducati Panigale V4 R 324,3
5 50 E. LAVERTY BMW S1000 RR 322,4
6 21 M. RINALDI Ducati Panigale V4 R 321,4
7 20 S. BARRIER Ducati Panigale V4 R 320,5
8 22 A. LOWES Kawasaki ZX-10RR 320,5
9 91 L. HASLAM Honda CBR1000RR-R 319,5
10 54 T. RAZGATLIOGLU Yamaha YZF R1 319,5
