ROAD RACE
MOTUL FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 8 / JUNE 22-24, 2018
WEATHERTECH RACEWAY / MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA
P92
In race two, from the third row,
Rea passed into the lead on lap
eight, and was never headed.
Rea reached 125 career podi-
ums in WorldSBK at Laguna, as
he scored his 62nd (and even
greater record) WorldSBK win.
Laguna this year truly became
his venue.
"A double win at Laguna in
the sunshine—it does not get
much better," said Rea after race
two. He said of his regular 1:23
pace: "In Sunday warm-up it
was a good step. Of course the
temperature in the morning was
much lower so we could be fast
consistently but even most of that
race I was able to be in the 1:23s,
and that was the key today. It was
a kind of strange feeling doing
1:23s, then backing off the gas
and still staying there, and pulling
away."
Behind him each time, Davies
was second, and confidently so
for a man who knew wins were
going to elude him.
His bike is not the truly com-
petitive beast it used to be, but at
least in Laguna he saw some stiff
competition for podium places
as the track surface sizzled on
Saturday and merely basted the
tires more gently on Sunday.
After finishing on top at Brno
last time out, Alex Lowes (Pata
Yamaha) piled into his duties
with his newfound coolness and
pace, and he was rewarded with
a podium in race one as a result.
It was a big weekend for Eugene
Laverty and the Milwaukee Aprilia
team. Laverty capped off the
weekend with a trip to the podium, a
first for him since 2014 and a first for
Aprilia, period.
