REA LAYS THE SMACKDOWN AT JEREZ
W
orld Superbike Champion
Jonathan Rea put a stun-
ning exclamation mark on his
2016 season by dominating the
final test of the year over one
wet and two dry days at Jerez
in Spain last week, beating a
host of MotoGP riders who were
there testing out new machines
for 2017.
Rea and his new, factory Ka-
wasaki Ninja ZX-10RR superbike
set a fastest time of 1:38.721,
an amazing lap that would have
qualified him on pole for the
Spanish MotoGP race, held at
the same venue back in April.
Rea's time came on a qualifying
tire on Thursday, but his pace
was nonetheless incredible with
teammate Tom Sykes 0.740
back in fifth overall.
"Having the new Ninja ZX-
10RR has let us fix some of our
weaker points, as our engine is
a little bit stronger than before,
with some extra rpm," said Rea
at the end of the test. "We did
two race simulations on Thurs-
day that we were very happy
with."
Second to the Northern
Irishman was new Aspar Ducati-
signing Alvaro Bautista, who
headed 2016 WorldSBK number
3 Chaz Davies on the factory
Aruba.It Ducati Panigale R, Avin-
tia Ducati's Loris Baz and Sykes
rounding out the top five.
Friday's final day was rained
out with only a few of the riders
venturing onto the track to test a
wet setup, thus no improvement
in times was made.
MotoGP riders present
included Hector Barbera, Aliex
Espargaro, Danilo Petrucci,
Scott Redding, Karel Abraham,
Michele Pirro, Jack Miller, Mika
Kallio, Bradley Smith and Sam
Lowes. WorldSBK was repre-
sented by Rea, Davies, Sykes,
new Aruba.It Ducati Panigale
R-signing Marco Melandri,
Alex Lowes, Leon Camier and
Michael van der Mark. CN
IN
THE
WIND
P30
Rea was in perilous
form at Jerez and
heads into the
off-season full of
confidence.
PHOTO
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
