Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes managed to bring Kawasaki Racing Team the 500th podium in the history of the Japanese factory’s participation in World Superbike, and even on their home track. But on some 10th lap, neither Rea nor Lowes really counted on it… After the finish, Jonathan commented on his intense duel with Alvaro Bautista, calling it a “hell of a race”.
The duel lasted 13 laps in a row and ended with Alvaro’s sudden exit from the system. But from the 2nd to the 14th lap, Rea and Bautista were fighting on the verge of possibilities…
Alex Laws said after the finish: “At the start, I definitely could not even count on such a result. The asphalt was just hot, my tires were sliding, and I couldn’t attack at all. I tried to hold on to Johnny and Alvaro as long as I could until Scott rolled in. We burned the rear tires with him at every turn… literally! I was lucky to pass him on braking at the very end, after which I think he made a mistake somewhere because he began to lag behind. At first, when he was walking in front, there was no more than 0.3 between us, but then we switched places, and I noticed that the gap began to grow. We have something to improve in the settings for tomorrow’s races.”
Jonathan Rea: “We made a small change to the set up in the morning to balance the chassis, and I already had solid confidence in the warm-up. Although the asphalt was like a hot frying pan! It was a hell of a race, both because of the heat and because of the fight with Alvaro. The tires ran out before we reached the equator of the race. I don’t know how we controlled our motorcycles, to be honest… Congratulations to Toprak, because to drive the way he does is stable and fast… I don’t know, in my opinion, today it was just aerobatics!”
