Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea concluded a restarted Superpole WorldSBK race at Barcelona on the top of the box after a dramatic crash fest on Sunday morning.
A neutralised first attempt at a Tissot-Superpole race was stopped on lap four as Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven Ducati) and Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) crashed hard at Turn 11. Davies was taken for medical checks.
The BMW duo of Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) were both earlier fallers in the neutralised ‘race’ as VDM lost the front and ran Sykes off track at speed, with Sykes eventually falling and both riders out of the restart.
An eventual five lap Superpole sprint was recalled under the quick restart rules.
A clash between Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) saw Locatelli down as they went for the same pice of asphalt, with Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha) also falling and Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) being pushed wide, to finish an eventual 15th.
The early action between Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was immense, and started before the first turn as they clashed elbows on the main straight from the green light.
The duelling pair would continue this approach for the first few turns but after Razgatlioglu ran wide Rea had enough advantage to hold on to the lead all the way, winning by just 0.211 seconds.
The arguably bigger story was behind the top two, as Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) took his first podium of the year and his first for Honda since Motorland last year.
Rea’s tenth win of 2021 saw him gain another three points on Razgatlioglu.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was fourth, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) fifth and Saturday podium rider Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) sixth, despite a massive morning warm-up crash.
Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) was seventh and the top ten was rounded out by Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha), Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motorsport Alstare Yamaha) and Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team).
