Reading Sweeps Jerez WorldSBK
G
oing racing in the time of a
global pandemic, with no
crowd at all and only essential
working people in the paddock,
was otherworldly enough at the
season restart in Jerez, August
1-2. To also do it in the middle of
a heat wave—even by Andalusian
standards in August—was simply
surreal.
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Ducati)
scored not just his first win in
WorldSBK but his second one
only a day later.
Jonathan Rea (KRT) won the
Superpole race as he had in Aus-
tralia but also slumped to about
his worst non-crash/breakdown
result in living memory in race two.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi took
his Go Eleven privateer Ducati
to almost a podium finish in race
two, after surviving a scary brake-
pressure loss in FP1 on Friday.
A first Superpole for Red-
ding on Saturday (the 67th
different rider to have done so in
WorldSBK history), the opening
afternoon race also belonged to
the tall Englishman who has lost
a few pounds in his efforts to be
fully ready rumble in WorldSBK's
back-to-school day.
The 2019 BSB Champion wait-
ed behind Rea for a while in race
one after warring with the tough
nut that is Toprak Razgatlioglu
(Pata Yamaha) and then passed
the five-time world champion with
an inside blocking move straight
out of the school of hard near-
knocks.
Behind those two, another
hard charger who made the early
podium grade was Razgatlioglu,
on a mission as usual and just
riding the bike expansively to fin-
ish 2.252 seconds down after 20
steaming laps.
Fast in qualifying, sixth in
Superpole, Loris Baz (Ten Kate
Yamaha Racing) was top inde-
pendent rider in fifth place.
Alex Lowes (KRT), after a di-
sastrous 14th grid slot in Super-
pole, was only ninth in the first
race. Front-end corner entry was
IN
THE
WIND
P32
Ducati's Scott
Redding came out
swinging at the Jerez
World Superbike. The
Brit won both legs.
