Jonathan Rea has broken Colin Edwards’ 15-year-old WorldSBK all-time points record with victory in the second race in Qatar.
Rea has amassed 16 wins this year and has only been off the podium in two races which he didn’t finish, ending the season with 556 points compared to Edwards’ 552 set in the 2002 season where the Texas Tornado won 11 races but was on the podium in every single outing despite having Troy Bayliss to deal with. It was also Rea's 16th career double win which equals the total of both Bayliss and Carl Fogarty.
The Kawasaki man was handed the lead on lap four when Davies experienced a massive near-highside which broke his screen. Rea needed no invitation and swept into top spot but the Welshman still bagged second in the championship chase as rival Tom Sykes crashed out, losing the front at turn 14 a lap before.
Davies did close back in on Rea but the Castletown man paid attention to his pitboard and got the hammer down again, extending the gap before knocking it off again to take victory by two seconds over the Aruba Ducati man.
Alex Lowes took the final podium place, bouncing back from his double crash yesterday to pass Pata Yamaha team-mate Michael van der Mark with five laps left to run. Lowes, who marries fiancee Corrine Powell in December, secured fifth in the points chase behind Marco Melandri.
The little Italian struggled in the desert all weekend and could only muster sixth place. He was in a scrap with Barni Ducati’s Xavi Fores but didn’t have the pace to stay with the satellite Panigale rider, crossing the line six seconds in arrears.
Race two poleman Eugene Laverty made a fast start but seemed to lose rear grip at the halfway mark and slid back to seventh and into the grip of former champion Sylvain Guintoli. After a good scrap, it was the Irishman who won out by four tenths.
Leon Camier moved into ninth late on with Roman Ramos completing the top ten. Jake Gagne took 12th behind Raffaele de Rosa while team-mate Davide Giugilano did not start due to bout of gastroenteritis. Jordi Torres suffered the same sort of crash as Davies on lap one but wasan’t as lucky and crashed out.
Qatar WorldSBK race two - conditions dry
1 1 1 J. REA GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10RR 17 1’57.061 313,0 1’56.228 313,0 25 25 556 1
2 8 7 C. DAVIES GBR Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Ducati Panigale R 17 1.961 1’57.932 310,3 1’57.645 311,2 20 20 403 2
3 2 22 A. LOWES GBR Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 17 4.185 1’58.196 320,5 1’56.675 309,5 16 242 5
4 7 60 M. VAN DER MARK NED Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 17 5.843 1’58.221 315,8 1’57.575 312,1 13 223 6
5 5 12 X. FORÉS ESP BARNI Racing Team Ducati Panigale R 17 8.987 1’58.624 315,8 1’57.450 313,0 11 196 7
6 9 33 M. MELANDRI ITA Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Ducati Panigale R 17 14.675 1’58.134 320,5 1’57.813 316,7 16 10 327 4
7 6 50 E. LAVERTY IRL Milwaukee Aprilia Aprilia RSV4 RF 17 16.251 1’58.936 316,7 1’57.491 317,6 13 9 157 10
8 10 05 S. GUINTOLI FRA Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki ZX-10RR 17 16.675 1’58.975 311,2 1’57.985 309,5 8 8 34 18
9 12 2 L. CAMIER GBR MV Agusta Reparto Corse MV Agusta 1000 F4 17 19.607 1’59.309 308,6 1’58.174 307,7 7 7 168 8
10 16 40 R. RAMOS ESP Team Kawasaki Go Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10RR 17 20.628 1’59.141 312,1 1’59.156 303,4 6 6 118 12
11 13 35 R. DE ROSA ITA Althea BMW Racing Team BMW S 1000 RR 17 26.043 1’59.370 314,0 1’58.747 312,1 5 53 15
12 18 45 J. GAGNE USA Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team Honda CBR1000RR 17 32.656 1’59.385 314,0 1’59.247 313,0 4 4 14 24
13 14 121 A. ANDREOZZI ITA Guandalini Racing Yamaha YZF R1 17 41.197 1’59.596 310,3 1’58.938 300,0 3 14 25
14 19 37 O. JEZEK CZE Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10RR 17 41.844 2’00.304 308,6 2’00.001 303,4 2 2 22 22
15 20 44 R. ROLFO ITA Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10RR 17 47.116 2’00.220 306,8 2’01.026 304,2 3 1 4 33
16 17 11 J. GUARNONI FRA Pedercini Racing SC-Project Kawasaki ZX-10RR 15 2 Laps 1’59.421 311,2 1’59.214 309,5 5 5 31
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RET 3 66 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10RR 2 15 Laps 1’58.403 308,6 1’57.063 305,9 10 373 3
RET 4 32 L. SAVADORI ITA Milwaukee Aprilia Aprilia RSV4 RF 2 15 Laps 2’00.302 319,5 1’57.429 315,8 11 124 11
RET 11 81 J. TORRES ESP Althea BMW Racing Team BMW S 1000 RR 1 16 Laps 317,6 1’58.087 309,5 9 158 9
