Jonathan Rea sixth in race two at Jerez as Scott Redding extends World Superbike title lead with dominant victory

Rea struggled from the off with a lack of grip from his rear tyre and could do nothing to prevent Redding from wrapping up a double in the searing heat, with the English rider opening a cushion of 24 points in the title race.

On Saturday, Redding claimed his maiden World Superbike win in the opening race from Rea, but the former MotoGP rider had to settle for second place in the Superpole race, with Rea leading all the way on his Kawasaki to notch his 90th career victory in the series.

However, Redding stamped his authority on race two, quickly taking the lead from Rea at the start of the second lap and gradually pulling clear of the field.

He sealed the win on his Aruba.it Ducati by three seconds from team-mate Chaz Davies, with Toprak Razgatlioglu finishing third on the Pata Yamaha.

Rea, who was 12 seconds behind in sixth at the finish, said: “I had absolutely nothing for the guys and when Scott came past me, especially going through Turn 3, I just went completely sideways.

“I used the development option rear tyre and yesterday it worked and I felt consistent, but today I just didn’t have it from the rear tyre from the get-go.

“I’m a bit disappointed to be honest, but we’re coming away from Jerez knowing that we did a pretty good job and the bike is in a good area, so we now look forward to Portimao next week,” added Rea.

“Portimao is a happy hunting ground for me and I’m looking forward to fighting there. We have some positives from the weekend because we moved up some places in the championship overall, but we slipped some points back on Scott and he looks like the reference right now.

“He’s doing a really good job but I knew I was hung out to dry from the first lap today, so I’ll just put it behind me.”

After Redding hit the front on the first lap, Rea soon fell into the clutches of Welshman Davies, who made a clean pass on the brakes on lap four to take second.

Razgatlioglu also forced his way past Rea after exchanging passes with the champion before putting some daylight between himself and the Kawasaki rider, who was now coming under pressure from his team-mate, Alex Lowes.

As Redding moved into a comfortable lead at the front, Rea was becoming vulnerable in fourth place and the impressive Michael Ruben Rinaldi was now on a charge on the Team Go Eleven Ducati. The Italian rider overtook Lowes with eight laps to go and then picked off Rea to snatch fourth.

On lap 16, Rea dropped another place into sixth when Lowes came past, with the Ulster rider unable to retaliate. He held his position to the finish in what was a disappointing end to the weekend for the five-time champion.

There was more frustration for Eugene Laverty, who ran off the track after hitting a false neutral. Laverty later retired from the race. He finished 15th in Saturday’s race and 13th in the Superpole race on the S1000RR as he battles to keep his place in the team in 2021.

Meanwhile, Aghadowey’s Eunan McGlinchey narrowly missed out on qualifying for the World Supersport 300 races by only 0.2 seconds. McGlinchey finished seventh in the Last Chance qualifying race on the Team 109 Kawasaki on Saturday, when he was only just denied a crucial top-six finish in his world debut.

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