Rea strikes back with Sprint Race win defeating Razgatlioglu
Full Phillip Island WorldSBK Sprint Race results
Jonathan Rea has made the perfect start to his Phillip Island fightback with victory in the 10-lap Sprint Race beating Toprak Razgatlioglu at the final corner.
After bolting into the lead at the first corner, Rea held on to the position until the penultimate lap when Razgatlioglu started his late attack having traded overtakes with both Scott Redding and Alex Lowes earlier on.
Full Phillip Island WorldSBK Sprint Race results
Jonathan Rea has made the perfect start to his Phillip Island fightback with victory in the 10-lap Sprint Race beating Toprak Razgatlioglu at the final corner.
After bolting into the lead at the first corner, Rea held on to the position until the penultimate lap when Razgatlioglu started his late attack having traded overtakes with both Scott Redding and Alex Lowes earlier on.
The Pata Yamaha rider, fresh from winning Race 1, looked to balk Rea at the Honda hairpin on the final lap but coming around the final corner the Turkish rider suffered a rear-end slide which lost him vital momentum and allowed Rea to power back past.
Rea grabbed victory by 0.067s to get his 2020 campaign up and running after crashing out of the opening race yesterday, with Razgatlioglu holding off Redding and the finish line by 0.005s to take second place.
With Redding on the Aruba.it Racing Ducati completing the podium, Alex Lowes missed out for Kawasaki but kept clear of former Pata Yamaha team-mate Michael van der Mark.
BMW’s Tom Sykes held on to sixth place after a feisty battle with Loris Baz on the Ten Kate Yamaha.
Further back, Leon Haslam recovered from being hit by Chaz Davies on the opening lap to take eighth place for Honda ahead of Team GoEleven Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi.
Maximilian Scheib just missed out on the front three rows for Race 2 in 10th place for Orelac Racing Kawasaki but ahead of fellow customer Kawasaki riders Sandro Cortese and Xavi Fores.
Chaz Davies, minus a wing following his collision with Haslam, could only manage 13th place for the factory Ducati squad. Federico Caricasulo recovered to take 14th place after crashing on the opening lap to finish ahead of Takumi Takahashi on the Mie Althea Honda.
Alvaro Bautista failed to finish as he crashed out on Lap 2 at Siberia for Honda.
Both Eugene Laverty and Garrett Gerloff missed the race having suffered concussion in separate crashes during warm up.
