Salinas, USA,
14
July
2019
|
19:09
Europe/Amsterdam

WorldSBK Race 1 at Laguna Seca goes to Rea ahead of Davies and Razgatlioglu, crash for Bautista; outstanding performance by the new SCX and Superpole options brought by Pirelli

The defending World Champion Kawasaki rider adds to his Championship lead, taking advantage of the umpteenth mistake by Ducati rider Bautista, and praises the new qualifying tyre that let him take Superpole®

The first race of the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship weekend scheduled through tomorrow at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in California just ended with the win going to Jonathan Rea on Kawasaki.
After moving into the Championship lead last week at the round held in Donington Park, England, the four-time World Champion riding with Kawasaki WorldSBK Racing Team took pole position and led the 25 laps of Race 1 from start to finish, winning with an advantage of almost six seconds ahead of Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R), second, and more than 12 ahead of the other Kawasaki, ridden by Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR), third.
Another mistake and a crash for the other title contender, Spaniard, Álvaro Bautista, allowing Rea to take his Championship lead over the Ducati rider to 49 points.

On this first day, the riders used practically all the tyres brought by Pirelli, starting with the new Superpole® tyre that allowed Rea to take pole position and Davies and Bautista to drop their times lower than last year’s pole position time. Outstanding performance for the new SCX in Y0448 specification as well. Although designed by Pirelli as a pre-qualifier option and possibly for the Tissot Superpole Race, in Race 1 it was used by no less than three riders, including Chaz Davies and Tom Sykes who finished second and fourth respectively.

After taking pole position with a time of 1’21.876, in Race 1, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) started well from the first spot on the grid, followed by the Ducati duo of Chaz Davies andÁlvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R), as well as Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) who gained three positions at the start.During the third lap, Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) crashed out and was then forced to retire. In the meantime, the leading group was very compact, so much that on the fifth lap, Davies was able to take the lead for a moment, overtaking Rea, only to relinquish it on the next turn. And, just after doing the fast lap on the third lap and touching top speed in fifth gear, Bautista ended up disastrously in the gravel on turn 5. The Ducati rider was able to re-join, but he would finish the race eighteenth and without any points.
The remainder of the race held no real surprises, with Rea managing to pull the pin ahead of Davies and Razgatlioglu to finish the race first ahead of his direct followers. Fourth place for Sykeson BMW.

WorldSBK Race 1 Standings: 
1) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
2) C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
3) T. Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
4) T. Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR)
5) A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
6) J. Torres (Team Pedercini Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
7) M. Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
8) L. Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R1)
9) M. Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1)
10) M. Rinaldi (Barni Racing Team / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
11) E. Laverty (Team Goeleven / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
12) L. Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
13) A. Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team / Honda CBR1000RR)
14) S. Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1)
15) M. Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR)
16) R. Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team / Honda CBR1000RR)
17) Á. Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
RT) J. Beach (Attack Performance Estenson Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R1)
RT) L. Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)

The Pirelli solutions chosen by the WorldSBK riders for Race 1:

In Race 1, the riders used all of the Pirelli brought for this round. As for the front, all the riders used the standard SC1 125/70 tyre (option A) with the exception of Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) and Ryūichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team / Honda CBR1000RR), who preferred opting for the X1071 SC2 development solution, also in the 125/70 size (option B).
Choices for the rear varied greatly, with eight riders opting for the Y0446 SC0 development tyre in the 200/65 size (option A) and as many going with the standard SC0 200/65 solution (option B). Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R), Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR) and Eugene Laverty (Team Goeleven / Ducati Panigale V4 R), on the other hand, preferred the SCX option).

Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 1: 
• Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP: Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R),in 1'22.945 at the 3rd lap 

• Most used front solution: standard SC1 125/70 (17 out of 19 riders) 

• Most used rear solution: standard SC0 200/65 (8 out of 19 riders) and devolpment SC0 Y0446 (8 out of 19 riders) 

• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 264 km/h, achieved by Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) in the 5th lap 

• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the WorldSBK class: 4 front and 6 rear Number of tyres available for each WorldSBK rider: 62, including 29 front and 33 rear 

• Air temperature: 19° C 

• Asphalt temperature: 45° C