The start of the 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season brought more history to the record books as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed a resounding victory in Race 1 at MotorLand Aragon for the Pirelli Aragon for claim his 100th WorldSBK victory, the first man to win 100 races in a single class of FIM Road Racing World Championships.

LIGHTS OFF – Kawasakis escapes …

Rea led a Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK 1-2 with Alex Lowes coming home in second place, four seconds behind Rea after challenging him in the opening stages of the races. Lowes was under pressure from Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) and finished in second place just 0.043 seconds behind the Turkish rider, who had struggled from tenth place on the grid.

Rea was able to keep the lead in the race but was immediately put under pressure by teammate Lowes, with Lowes looking to be the one to deny Rea his 100^e WorldSBK victory for the moment.

Scott Redding (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) finished third in the early stages of the race but was unable to keep pace with the Kawasakis ahead, securing Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) and Razgatlioglu (, starting tenth, managed to stay on the podium but not challenge the Kawasakis in the early stages.

Razgatlioglu was the first rider to pass through Redding on the inside of the left turn of Turn 1, allowing the Turkish rider to start chasing the Kawasakis ahead. Davies followed a lap later with a sensational pass over Redding at Turn 2 with Davies looking to add to his winning tally at Aragon.

THE BATTLE FOR THE SECOND

After passing Razgatlioglu, the Turkish star had his eyes on Lowes who was his next target for second place, with Razgatlioglu able to pass Lowes before starting to move his target towards Rea. Razgatlioglu couldn’t part with Lowes and Davies, but started to turn faster than Rea with around five laps to go, although not fast enough to put pressure on Rea in the later stages of the race.

On lap 16, Lowes attempted to get Razgatlioglu back at turn 4 and briefly took the lead, but the Turkish rider was able to brake later on the brakes, a theme that persisted throughout the final laps of the race, keeping Davies vying for second place. in law. At the last turn, Lowes briefly took the lead again, but Razgatlioglu was able to pretty much defend his position although the British rider eventually made it through Turn 1 on lap 17. The battle was not over as the race ended as the duo fought. he comes out, with Lowes winning a drag race towards the line for a KRT 1-2; Lowes and Razgatlioglu claim their 25^e WorldSBK podium.

The battle brought Redding and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) closer to the battle for second place, although Redding let Bautista down as the battle approached, creating a four-way battle for second place; although Bautista crashed out of the race on the last lap at Turn 2, forcing the Spanish rider to retire. After losing a bit earlier in the race, Redding was able to secure fourth place from former teammate Davies as the final lap began, with Redding finishing fourth and Davies fifth.

THE POINT SCORERS

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) failed to convert third on the grid to a podium but, after a rough start, managed to manage his SCX tire to return to sixth place in the first race of the M 1000 RR. Another one who managed the SCX tire with seventh place was Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati), about two seconds ahead of Leon Haslam (Team HRC).

American star Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) placed in the top ten at MotorLand Aragon, seven seconds ahead of factory Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) who finished among the top ten in his first WorldSBK race. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) finished 11th^e on his debut for BMW, with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) in 12^e.

Three other rookies earned points on their WorldSBK debuts with Isaac Viñales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura), Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) completed the top ten, with Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Action), Christophe Ponsson (Alstare Yamaha) and Loris Cresson (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) the last of the riders.

IMPORTANT NOTICES …

Rookie Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) was the first to drop out of the race with a technical problem in the early stages of the race after securing a top 12 place on the starting grid, while Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) brought their Honda machine. in the pit lane on lap 8 with the Argentinian rider not finishing the race. Rookie Samuele Cavalieri (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) was another mid-race dropout, bringing his Kawasaki machine to the garage. Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) returned his BMW machine to the garage on lap 14 of 18 with a problem after running near the top ten for the majority of the race.

Top six WorldSBK Race 1, full results here:

1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) + 3.965s
3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) + 4.008s
4. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) + 4.242s
5. Chaz Davies (GoEleven team) + 4,615s
6. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team) + 6.784s

Fastest lap: Jonathan Rea: 1’50.040s

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