Jonathan Rea (KRT) scored two fourth place finishes at Jerez today to take the FIM Superbike World Championship crown. After the second 20-lap race of the day Kawasaki was confirmed as Manufacturers’ Champion. Tom Sykes (KRT) won the first race of the day and finished fifth in race two.  

Jonathan Rea realised he only needed six points from the Jerez weekend to make sure he won the title but in finishing fourth in race one he took more than he needed and win his first World SBK championship, with five individual races to spare.

These two races were the first times in 2015 that Rea had finished off the podium in what has been a remarkable season so far. His 12 races wins, 20 podiums and ability to score big points every time out gave him the edge that he and his official Kawasaki team used to such effect - from the first race win in Australia in February to his championship win in Spain in mid September.

Tom Sykes has now scored four race wins in the season so far, playing his full part in helping Kawasaki secure the Manufacturers’ Championship after the second race at Jerez. Tom had a typical front running success in the first race today, leading every lap and enjoying an impressive margin of victory of almost three seconds. Choosing a less than ideal tyre option for race two meant he led for ten of the 20 laps, but dropped back to fifth place.

Rea has grown his points total to 478 after Jerez. Race two winner Chaz Davies is second overall on 353 and Sykes has 331 points, in third.

The next round will be held in Europe again, at the Magny-Cours circuit in France, on October 4th.



Jonathan Rea:

“This is an amazing moment for me in my career because I started schoolboy motocross when I was six years old, spending time at race circuits with my father and growing up in a racing environment, so I always dreamed of being world champion. So to finally be here and be world champion is incredible. There has been a lot of hard work from myself, sacrifice and dedication from my family, but most of all this championship would not be possible without Kawasaki. I want to thank both my team manager Guim Roda, and Steve Guttridge from KME, who really believed in me and gave me this opportunity. Right now it has not sunk in. When my mechanics were putting the number 1 sticker on the bike out on track it felt really strange but I am just so happy and grateful for this opportunity. There have been many ups and hard times. Moments like this are even more special because of the challenges I have faced with injuries, a broken wrist and a bad fracture of my femur. When I watched the 2002 World Championship between Colin Edwards and Troy Bayliss I got so much inspiration from this it became my dream. It became like, ‘I have to do this.’ So even in tough times I never doubted my ability. Finally we are here today so hopefully this can also inspire some other young riders to start, or for young riders who are already racing to never give up on their dream. Right now it still does not feel real but I am world champion and I am really proud.”

Tom Sykes:

“Overall I am fairly satisfied because we have never won at this circuit, so considering the whole season today is fairly acceptable. We struggled in race two and perhaps chose the wrong front tyre in that race. It was the same as race one and even in race one I did not have a good feeling with the front. But when you win with that margin at a circuit you have never won at before it’s is still good. I think if we had changed the front tyre we would have had a much different bike to compete for race distance. It is great to be part of Kawasaki winning the Manufacturers’ Championship. Obviously the majority of the points have come from Jonathan but I think that over the years I have helped create an environment and package that helped all the riders who have contributed toward Kawasaki’s first Manufacturers’ title.”

David Salom (Kawasaki Team Pedercini) secured 11th and 12th places at his home round, while his compatriot Roman Ramos (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) was 11th and a non-finisher. Roman is 14th in the championship standings and David 15th.