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Magny-Cours WSBK: Rea beats Sykes to win wet opening race

New World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea overhauled teammate Tom Sykes to lead home a Kawasaki one-two in a wet first race at Magny-Cours.

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki
Third place Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Tom Sykes, Kawasaki
Sylvain Guintoli, Pata Honda
Sylvain Guintoli, Pata Honda
Chaz Davies, Ducati Team
Leon Haslam, Aprilia Racing Team

The Ulsterman, who clinched the crown at the previous round at Jerez, reeled in long-time leader Sykes and made the decisive move at the 180° hairpin with three laps to go to clinch his 13th win of the year.

Sykes had surged from ninth on the grid to lead the early stages, going around the outside of Rea at the Adelaide hairpin on the third lap and opening up a three second gap out front.

But the Yorkshire-born rider began to struggle with rear tyre grip in the tricky conditions, allowing Rea to close in.

With five laps remaining, just 1.1s separated the two Kawasaki riders, and with three laps to go, Rea briefly put his nose ahead at Adelaide before sealing the deal at 180° as Sykes ran wide.

In just two-and-a-half laps, Rea managed to put 4.7s between himself and Sykes when the chequered flag fell.

Behind the Kawasaki duo, outgoing champion Sylvain Guintoli was able to break free of a major squabble for 'best of the rest' honours, taking a first podium finish of the season aboard his PATA Honda - albeit almost 15 seconds down on Rea.

Michael van der Mark made it two Honda riders in the top four, briefly leading teammate Guintoli before a major out-of-the-seat moment dropped him to fourth, where he would go on to finish.

Leon Camier took the underdeveloped MV Agusta to an impressive fifth place finish, ahead of Chaz Davies' Ducati, which gradually slipped down the order having held second behind Rea in the opening laps.

Matteo Baiocco (Ducati) took a creditable seventh ahead of Alex Lowes (Suzuki), while the Ducatis of Leandro Mercado and fading front-row starter Niccolo Canepa completed the top 10.

Aprilia's Leon Haslam, meanwhile, had a disastrous race from pole, holding third in the early stages before beginning a slow descent down the order. He finished a lapped 16th after needing to make a tyre change at mid-distance.

Race results:

Pos. Rider Bike Time/Gap
Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 36'29.856
Tom Sykes Kawasaki 4.711
Sylvain Guintoli Honda 14.683
Michael van der Mark Honda 22.772
Leon Camier MV Agusta 30.136
Chaz Davies Ducati 31.528
Matteo Baiocco Ducati 32.129
Alex Lowes Suzuki 39.034
Leandro Mercado Ducati 1'01.396
10  Niccolo Canepa Ducati 1'07.845
11  Gianluca Vizziello Kawasaki 1'09.622
12  Jordi Torres Aprilia 1'16.782
13  Luca Scassa Ducati 1'19.531
14  Ayrton Badovini BMW 1'26.459
15  Roman Ramos Kawasaki 1'30.260
16  Leon Haslam Aprilia 1 Lap
17  Gabor Rizmayer BMW 1 Lap
18  Christophe Ponsson Kawasaki 1 Lap
19  Alex Phillis Kawasaki 1 Lap
20  Imre Toth BMW 1 Lap
21  Markus Reiterberger BMW 2 Laps
Ret Pawel Szkopek Yamaha  
Ret Randy de Puniet Suzuki  
Ret David Salom Kawasaki  

 

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