Jonathan Rea dedicates poignant World Superbike victory at Phillip Island to his grieving family

Jonathan Rea dedicated his 89th career World Superbike victory in Australian to his family back home in Northern Ireland after his grandmother passed away overnight on Saturday.
By Kyle White
Published 1st Mar 2020, 12:19 BST
Updated 1st Mar 2020, 12:22 BST
Jonathan Rea won the Superpole race at Phillip Island in Australia for his first victory of the season and his 89th in the series overall.Jonathan Rea won the Superpole race at Phillip Island in Australia for his first victory of the season and his 89th in the series overall.
Jonathan Rea won the Superpole race at Phillip Island in Australia for his first victory of the season and his 89th in the series overall.

The five-time world champion was back on the top step for Kawasaki at Phillip Island in the Superpole race after crashing out of the opening race on Saturday.

Rea won through in the 10-lap sprint race as he held off race one winner Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) by 0.067s, with Scott Redding finishing on the podium again in third, just five thousandths of a second behind on his Aruba.it Ducati.

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Ulsterman Rea was denied a double in the second race on Sunday after new team-mate Alex Lowes made it three different winners at the opening round of the 2020 World Superbike Championship, narrowly holding off Rea to win by a few hundredths of a second.

Kawasaki's Jonathan Rea leads the chasing pack at Phillip Island in Australia.Kawasaki's Jonathan Rea leads the chasing pack at Phillip Island in Australia.
Kawasaki's Jonathan Rea leads the chasing pack at Phillip Island in Australia.

The consistent Redding rounded out the top three ahead of Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha), Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati) and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC).

Razgatlioglu was a retirement on his Yamaha as he lost the early championship lead to Lowes, who leaves Australia on top with 51 points from Redding (39), Razgatlioglu (34) and Rea on 32 points.

Rea said: “I got a good start in the Superpole race and put my head down. It seemed like I was really setting the rhythm with a few laps to go. Toprak was showing me his front wheel, so I knew he was there.

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“On the last lap, throwing the bike down the inside line, I knew I had a little bit more traction. I really wanted to win that Superpole race for my family. It would have been nice to do it again in that second one but it was very strange race,” added Rea.

“I did not have the experience of doing 22 laps from race one on Saturday. I was not sure how the bike would be. The temperature went to 45 degrees on-track today too. Nobody seemed to want to come through and do the work.

“I set about my rhythm and with five laps to go I put my head down, but as soon as I completed this lap I felt a drop in the tyre again. Alex got by me and made a gap and although I had a close ride up to him on the last lap it was just not enough to get to the line first,” said Rea.

“We got to Qatar now and see what that brings. Yesterday we were 25 points behind, today we are 19 behind, so a positive day all-in-all after yesterday.”

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Northern Ireland’s Eugene Laverty was ruled out of Sunday’s two races with a concussion following a spill on the factory BMW in the warm-up session.

The Losail International Circuit in Qatar hosts round two from March 13-15.

Related topics:Jonathan ReaAlex LowesNorthern Ireland