REA TOPS JEREZ, PORTIMA
WORLDSBK TESTING
J
onathan Rea left Spain as the
quickest rider following two
days of WorldSBK testing at Jer-
ez, January 23-24, and another
two-day test session at Portimao,
January 26-27, where the de-
fending champ again topped the
charts.
In Jerez, his new Kawasaki Rac-
ing Team teammate Leon Haslam
finished out day two as the third
quickest; sandwiched in between
was Pata Yamaha's Alex Lowes.
The testing started off with Low-
es topping the charts on the first
day, Wednesday, ahead of Rea,
BMW's Tom Sykes, Haslam and
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki).
The fastest time of all was set
by HRC MotoGP test rider Stefan
Bradl, on Michelins, but of all the
WorldSBK riders in Spain, Rea
took the best lap with a 1:39.160 –
just 0.008 of a second from Bradl.
Lowes set a 1:39.372, on quali-
fier tires (Thursday), after testing
a maze of new settings and some
new parts. Lowes got through all
the planned work and headed to
Portimao hoping to be equally
fast there.
Rea had tried a qualifying tire on
the final day but he set a faster lap
on a race tire, as did his teammate
Haslam, who posted a 1:39.502
for third place overall.
Much better track conditions
on day two, partly due to bet-
ter weather conditions, allowed
more riders to get settled in after
what was a peculiarly grey and
unsettling first day for some. The
partially re-surfaced track im-
proved on the racing line, allowing
the best times to drop as the new
asphalt bedded in.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati)
placed himself fourth on the all-
new Ducati V4R, as he makes
the transition from MotoGP to
WorldSBK. According to the
Ducati team, Chaz Davies suf-
fered a muscle spasm in his back
that prevented him from riding for
much of the second day, and he
ended up 10th.
Razgatlioglu was impressive,
once again, in fifth place, but
rookie WorldSBK rider Sandro
Cortese (GRT Yamaha) overcame
his first WorldSBK crash to post
sixth best superbike time, and be
second fastest Yamaha rider on
the final day.
Michael van der Mark (Pata
Yamaha) was seventh, and Marco
Melandri (GRT Yamaha) eighth.
The Barni Racing Ducati V4R of
Michael Ruben Rinaldi took him to
IN
THE
WIND
P36
Jonathan Rea was the
top rider in four days of
WorldSBK testing in Spain.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
