Misano hosted the third Italian win of Jonathan Rea in 2018 season. The Northern Irish dominated Race 1 at Misano from the first till the last lap and this gave him another win on Italian soil after the double scored at Imola. Furthermore, this is Rea’s ninth win in the current season and his 63rd one in WorldSBK. What to say? Nothing, we can just admire this incredible champion…
Behind him, no real fight for the podium: Eugene Laverty went second by passing Tom Sykes at the fifth of 21 laps, but later on he was overtaken by Chaz Davies due to a mistake and this made him drop to third behind the Welsh. Finally Chaz Davies and Eugene Laverty finished the race in second and third place and so they joined Rea on the podium.
Just outside the top 3, Michael van der Mark had a great comeback from fourth row to fourth place, whose conclusion is represented by an overtake on Tom Sykes. The latter laid second in the early stages, but as the laps went by he proved not to have the pace for the podium and so he slowly lost positions. Xavi Forés, Marco Melandri, Lorenzo Savadori, Leon Camier and good Leandro Mercado close the top 10. Crashes ruled out of the race Loris Baz (who fell after just two corners), Alex Lowes (double fall for him), Jordi Torres and Yonny Hernández, while Michael Rinaldi‘s race was affected by technical issues.
What about championship standings? Well, Jonathan Rea further extends his advantage on Chaz Davies and now the gap amounts to 80 points (345 for Rea, 265 for the Ducati rider from Wales). Is the title already in Rea’s hands?
Photo Credit: Marco Lanfranchi