Qatar WorldSBK: Rea ties Polen with race one win
Jonathan Rea has tied Doug ꦐPolen's all-time record of 17 wins in a season, with victory on Friday night at the🐲 Qatar World Superbike season finale.
Kawasaki's newly crowned four-time champioꦑn snatched the holeshot from team-mate and pole starter Tom Sykes, then inched away from the Englishman to claim his eleventh victor🌞y in a row by 1.4s.
Tomorrow 🙈night will see Rea chase a n✃ew record of seven double-wins in a year.
Jonathan Rea has tied Doug Polen's all-time record of 17 wins in a season, with victory on Friday night at the Qatar World Superbike seaဣson finale🥃.
Kawasaki's newly crowned four-time champion snatched the holesꦕhot from team-mate and pole starter Tom Sykes, then inched away from the Englishman to claim his eleventh victory in a row by 1.4s.
Tomorrow night will seꦯe Rea chase a new record of seven double-wins in a year.
Behind the ZX-10s, SMR Aprilia's Eugene Laverty helped put himself in the shop w🐟indow for 2019 by hജolding third for much of the race, under constant pressure from Pata Yamaha's Alex Lowes.
L♏owes attacked early on the final lap, Laverty retaliated, but Lowes outbraked the Ir🧸ishman again at Turn 12.
Laverty was lining up a drag race to the line only to suffer a big front-end scare through the final corner, confirming a hard-fought podiumꦿ for Lowes.
Marco Melandri and Xavi Fores spent most of the race fighting for top Ducati honours in the V-Twin's penultimate appearance. Barni-rider Fores held the advantage until plummeting f𒁏rꦚom fifth to 13th on the last lap.
Likewise, Melandri's team-mate Chaz Davies (Ducati) and Lowes🏅' team-mate Michael van der Mark (Yamaha) - who will settle second in the world championship this weekend - were nose-to-tail for much of the 17 laps.
However, both were caught and passed by charging Althea BMW rider Lor𝄹is Baz in the closing stages, the Frenchman seizing what became sixth place after Forღes' decline.
Alth🤡ough van der Mark comfortably got the better of Davies, who only just held off the Red Bull Hond🐠a of Jake Gagne, the Welshman will start Saturday's race with a 23-point advantage.
After the race, it emerged that Davies🐬 and others were caught out by a wrong 'last lap' message displayed over the finish line, suggesting the race would end a lap earlier than it did – although ultimately it's always the chequered flag that declares a race over.
Gagne's t🅺eam-mate Leon Camier fell at Turn 12 in the middle🥀 stages, with MV Agusta's Max Scheib the only other non-finisher out of the slender 17-rider field.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Ross💯i come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
