IN
THE
WIND
P44
REA DOUBLES UP AT MISANO WORLDSBK
H
aving not won a race in the
Superbike World Champion-
ship since Assen, way back in
round four, round eight in Misa-
no, June 18-19, was something
of a knockout punch delivered
to his rivals for Jonathan Rea
(KRT) and it boosted his hopes
of a second world champion-
ship.
Once again, it looked like
the pre-eminent rider on race
days one and two would be
Tom Sykes, especially when he
romped to his latest Superpole
win – his sixth of the year – at
record pace.
But cometh race days,
cometh the number-one-plate
holder, Rea, as he won on Sat-
urday from a leading position all
the way, and then overtook his
constant companion Sykes with
five to go in race two to win by
over three seconds.
The margin of victory of only
0.090 seconds in race one was
rued by Sykes later, as he felt
he could have moved earlier
and won, but Rea was the man
to leave with a double-topper,
his third such domination of the
year.
"I was quite happy for Tom
to lead, shadowing every move
he did," said Rea about his
race-two win. "I understood he
was weak in some sections,
especially in turn one, so that is
where I made my move, put my
head down and was able to win
with a gap. I was super-happy
because I have not won a lights-
to-flag race until yesterday, so I
was happy to do that, but today
it was more important to be
clever and earn my 25 points in
a different way."
Jonathan Rea leads Tom Sykes
en route to his third double
victory of the year at Misano.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
