Source: Supplied.

Saturday’s racing at the penultimate round of the Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) in Spain saw Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) register his first victory as the recently crowned 2017 world champion, taking advantage of a late technical issue for provisional race leader Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).

With his first ever win at Jerez, Rea was joined on the podium at the end of a restarted race one at round 12 by Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team).

On his way to equaling Carl Fogarty’s career podium record of 109 rostrum results in WorldSBK Rea took over at the front after Melandri pulled off with a problem with four laps to go.

Rea had taken control of the restarted race in the early stages and led for several laps before Melandri made a move with 13 laps to go at turn nine up the inside of the Northern Irishman. Davies then followed Melandri through to overtake Rea, but Rea soon responded to retake the Welshman and slot back in behind the Italian.

As Melandri chased his second race win in 2017, since his return to WorldSBK at the start of the year, cruel luck saw him pull off towards the end of the race, leaving Rea to take the glory. Sykes produced a solid ride in third place as he continues to recover from wrist and finger injuries sustained in Portugal in September, with Davies crossing the line just under 0.5s ahead of him in second.

It was another strong performance from Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) as he collected more good points on the Yamaha YZF-R1, crossing the line fourth, 3.677s ahead of his teammate Michael van der Mark who was fifth.

2014 World Champion Sylvain Guintoli’s return to action on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR saw him finish a creditable sixth, in the first of four races he will ride for the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing at the final two rounds of the season.

The top 10 was rounded out by Milwaukee Aprilia duo Lorenzo Savadori and Eugene Laverty and Spanish pair Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) and Roman Ramos (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) – in seventh to 10th places respectively.

Turn 13 proved to be unlucky for Takumi Takahashi (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) as he lost the front end of his Honda CBR1000RR, though he picked it up to finish 16th. Takahashi’s Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team colleague Davide Giugliano was an unfortunate late retiree.

In the initial race start a turn 6 crash on the first lap involving Ayrton Badovini (Grillini Racing Team) and Raffaele de Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) brought out the red flags. After a short break the race was recommenced with a quick restart procedure with the riders keeping their focus in the clear conditions in Andalusia on the resurfaced Jerez track, though neither Badovini nor De Rosa made it back onto the grid.

Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) secured pole position in Tissot Superpole 2 for the WorldSSP class at the Pirelli Spanish Round on Saturday afternoon, recording a 1’43.285 lap around the resurfaced Jerez track. In clear and sunny conditions at the iconic venue in Andalusia Caricasulo outpaced nearest rival Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) by just 0.049s for pole, with Sheridan Morais (Kallio Racing) finishing third in the session by 0.356s.

PJ Jacobsen (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) is to start from fourth on the grid after a dramatic ending to the session which saw him hold on to that spot as championship contender Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) sought to challenge the frontrunners on the grid in the final minutes.

Australian Anthony West (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) will start from an impressive sixth position, as compatriots Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) and Giuseppe Scarcella (Honda) qualified 29th and 31st.

Fellow Aussie Mike Jones (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team) was second fastest in STK1000 followed by Glenn Scott (Kawasaki) in 22nd, while Tom Edwards (Kawasaki) and Reid Battye (Kawasaki) qualified 16th and 27th respectively.