The start of the 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season brought more history for the record books as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed a stunning victory in Race 1 at MotorLand Aragon for the Pirelli Aragon to claim his 100th race victory in WorldSBK, the first man to win 100 races in a single class of FIM road racing world championships.


LIGHTS OUT – Kawasakis break away…

Rea led a Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK 1-2 with Alex Lowes coming home in second place, four seconds away from Rea after challenging him in the early stages of the races. Lowes was under pressure from Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) and finished in second place by just 0.043s ahead of the Turkish rider, who had battled through from tenth on the grid.

Rea was able to retain the lead of the race but was immediately put under pressure by teammate Lowes, with Lowes looking to be the one who would deny Rea his 100th WorldSBK victory for the time being.

Scott Redding (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) ran in third in the early stages of the race but was unable to keep up with the pace of the Kawasakis out in front, ensuring Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) and Razgatlioglu (, who started tenth, were able to stay in podium contention but not challenge the Kawasakis in the early stages.

Razgatlioglu was the first rider to get by Redding on the inside of the left-hander of Turn 1, allowing the Turkish rider to start chasing down the Kawasakis out in front. Davies followed a lap later with a sensational overtake on Redding at Turn 2 with Davies looking to add to his win total at Aragon.

THE BATTLE FOR SECOND

After getting past Razgatlioglu, the Turkish star had his eyes set on Lowes who was his next target for second place, with Razgatlioglu able to get past Lowes before he started to move his target towards Rea. Razgatlioglu was unable to break away from Lowes and Davies but started lapping faster than Rea with around five laps to go, although not fast enough to put pressure on Rea in the closing stages of the race.

On Lap 16, Lowes tried to re-pass Razgatlioglu at Turn 4 and briefly got ahead but the Turkish rider was able to brake later on the brakes, a theme that ran throughout the last few laps of the race, keeping Davies in contention for second place. At the final corner, Lowes again briefly got ahead but Razgatlioglu was able to just about defend his position although the British rider finaly got by at Turn 1 on Lap 17. The battle was not over as the race came to a conclusion as the pair duelled it out, with Lowes winning out on a drag race to the line for a KRT 1-2; both Lowes and Razgatlioglu claiming their 25th WorldSBK podium.

The battle allowed Redding and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) to close in on the battle for second, although Redding dropped Bautista as he approached the battle creating a four-way battle for second place; although Bautista crashed out of the race on the final lap at Turn 2, forcing the Spanish rider to retire. After losing out earlier in the race, Redding was able to get by former teammate Davies for fourth place as the final lap started, with Redding finish fourth and Davies fifth.


THE POINTS SCORERS

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was unable to convert third on the grid to a podium finish but, after a difficult start, was able to manage his SCX tyre to come home in sixth place in the M 1000 RR’s first race. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) was another who managed the SCX tyre with seventh place, around two seconds clear of Leon Haslam (Team HRC).

American star Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) claimed a top ten finish at MotorLand Aragon, seven seconds clear of factory Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) who claimed a top ten finish in his first WorldSBK race. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) finished 11th on his debut for BMW, with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) in 12th.

Three more rookies secured points finishes on their WorldSBK debut with Isaac Viñales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura), Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) rounded out the top ten, with Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Action), Christophe Ponsson (Alstare Yamaha) and Loris Cresson (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) the last of the runners.

NOTEWORTHY MENTIONS…

Rookie Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) was the first to retire from the race with a technical issue in the early stages of the race after securing a top-12 starting grid spot, while Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) brought his Honda machine into the pitlane on Lap 8 with the Argentinean rider not finishing the race. Rookie Samuele Cavalieri (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) was another retirement from the race around the halfway stage, bringing his Kawasaki machine into the garage. Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) brought his BMW machine back to the garage on lap 14 of 18 with an issue after running close to the top ten for the majority of the race.


The top six from Race 1 in WorldSBK, full results here:

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +3.965s
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +4.008s
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +4.242s
Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) +4.615s
Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +6.784s
Fastest Lap: Jonathan Rea: 1’50.040s

Jonathan Rea (KRT) took his 100th career World SBK race win and his 85th victory for Kawasaki with a start-to-finish leading performance in the first race of the 2021 FIM Superbike World Championship season. Alex Lowes (KRT) shadowed his team-mate Rea in the early laps and showed great fighting qualities to finish second, starting the season with a Kawasaki 1-2 debut for the new Ninja ZX-10RR.

After a long winter the WorldSBK season began in great style for Kawasaki and the latest Ninja ZX-10RR, culminating in a podium-topping display from Rea and Lowes against a strong group of rivals.

In Superpole Rea set a new track best lap time of 1’48.458 in the relatively cool morning conditions of day two at Motorland. Lowes placed fourth after Superpole, putting himself at the head of the second row of the grid.

In the early laps of the opening race, started at 14.00 local time in Spain, Rea led and Lowes was second, stretching a joint lead of one second on the chasing pack in just two laps. That lead was extended to two seconds for Rea and he would have a calm and controlled ride all the way to the flag to take his famous win by almost four seconds.

Lowes started to drop back from Rea after experiencing two front end slides and he was eventually caught and passed by Toprak Razgatlioglu on lap 11. He was able to control his pace and then make a final push, using his advantages at just the right point of the final lap to take second place by 0.043 seconds.

Now Rea and Lowes will face two races on Sunday May 23; the short ten-lap Tissot Superpole ‘sprint’ race and then a second full distance 18-lap race to complete the first weekend’s return to race action since last October.


Jonathan Rea, stated:

“We reached 100 race wins today and it was done with a lot of hard work. Over the off season Kawasaki really dug in with a new bike and we were able to make a step. Also in the off season I worked really hard on myself and I know I improved in all areas. I was born with the dream of racing motorbikes, and going with my parents to ride around Motocross tracks in 1993, ’94. The history is mad. Getting the opportunity to come to the world championship, in 2008 in Supersport, and straight away after my rookie season going to Superbike. Taking my first race win at Misano in 2009 as a rookie and now with 100 wins… It’s mad! Each and every race win is special, and I have never been a statistics guy, but when I was closing in on 100 wins that was a big goal. It is such a cool number and a career landmark. I am very proud of it. We had been a little bit unlucky in the winter tests with bad weather but my team have left no stone unturned and turned up at every test we could. They reorganised and rescheduled things so huge thanks to all the staff. Not only the management but all the mechanics and their families for making this sacrifice. We have been away from home so long this off season, often for no laps, but we are in a good position now. To win the first race starts our championship off 25 points better than last year! That was a good way to start.”

Alex Lowes, stated:

“I I felt good all weekend, I have been really strong and got lots of laps in. In the race, maybe on lap six or seven, I found some problems, struggling with the front of the bike. I did not expect that. I had two slides on the entry to turn five, then turn ten. I thought that as this is the first race of the year, if I crash now it is just for nothing. I thought to myself, find your rhythm, let Jonathan go, then when somebody passes you, try to fight. Then I realised it was Toprak and he is so good on the brakes! In this area, for some reason, I didn’t have the same feeling like I had in the practice sessions. Luckily Toprak used an SCX rear tyre and he started to slide a lot. I was quite smooth, managed well and started to battle with him again. The second part of the race was quite tough but with the difficulty I had I didn’t expect to be there at the end for second. The positive point was that qualifying was good, the start was good and I was riding well at the start, so we can try to improve for tomorrow.”

Isaac Vinales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) was 13th in his first WorldSBK Race, with Kawasaki Puccetti Team rider Lucas Mahias 15th - both scoring points first time out. Loris Cresson (TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) was 18th as his team-mate Samuele Cavalieri retired from the opening race.