Race 1
Jonathan Rea claimed his first win of the season after an eventful WorldSBK race at Most.
Rea correctly picked intermediate tyres for the tricky conditions and, although the Ulsterman couldn’t match the fastest wet tyre riders early on, was in a class of his own relative to the others on intermediates.
That meant when conditions improved and the wet riders were forced to pit, Rea was handed a huge 12-second lead, which he managed to the finish – despite the late efforts of Toprak Razgatlioglu While title leader Alvaro Bautista could only finish in 12th.
Race 2
With the gap down to 52pts between Razgatlioglu & Bautista everything was all to play for in the second feature race of the weekend.
Razgatlioglu won the superpole race and was having a ding dong fight at the top with the defending champion who started third after fighting his way at the top during that mornings race.
It became almost routine, once ahead that the Spaniard would use his horsepower down the straight, occasionally being timed as leading over the line, with the Yamaha blocking and holding down the inside at turn one to retain the lead.
It was repeated until lap seventeen, when with just six laps remaining and clear of his turn one recovery move, the Turkish rider was sent flying from his Pata Yamaha, his highside leaving the bike on track and rider bewildered.
It was Jonathan Rea who was sat in behind the drama ahead. Once that duo was split all the action arrived at his door as Danilo Petrucci chased him down for some spectacular late race action.
The man from Ballymena tried desperately to hold on, but Petrucci put it all on the line. Committed, he went through at the start of the lap, only for Rea to slide back under at turn one. A push of Ducati horsepower saw the Italian pull ahead again, with a block seeing him in front and hold on to take second at the chequered flag.
Bautista has claimed an increased advantage from his win, now with a 74 point gap.
