Jonathan Rea third at Misano after Marc Marquez-style miracle save

Jonathan Rea survived a massive scare in Saturday’s opening World Superbike race at Misano in Italy to finish on the podium in third.
By Kyle White
Published 12th Jun 2021, 13:49 BST
Updated 12th Jun 2021, 13:56 BST
Jonathan Rea finished third in Saturday's opening World Superbike race at the third round of the championship at Misano in Italy.Jonathan Rea finished third in Saturday's opening World Superbike race at the third round of the championship at Misano in Italy.
Jonathan Rea finished third in Saturday's opening World Superbike race at the third round of the championship at Misano in Italy.

Rea was behind race leader and eventual winner Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) when he almost came off on lap nine after losing the front, incredibly managing to hold his Kawasaki upright on his right knee with a sensational Marc Marquez-style save.

The six-time world champion ran off the track but only dropped one position, falling back into third place behind Turkey’s Toprak Razgatlioglu.

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Rinaldi was now left with an unassailable lead and the Italian rider went on to secure his second career WSBK victory by 3.6s from Razgatlioglu, who was comfortable in second place ahead of Rea.

Northern Ireland man Rea had claimed pole position for the 30th time in his career with a new lap record in qualifying. He then shattered his six-year-old lap record on lap two in the race by three tenths of a second, setting a new mark of 1m 34.476s.

Scott Redding finished on his own in fourth position on the Aruba.it Ducati, with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Honda’s Alvaro Bautista the top six.

Rea’s lead at the top of the standings was reduced slightly but the 34-year-old still holds a healthy advantage of 31 points ahead of Sunday’s two races at Misano.

Eugene Laverty was ruled out of the race following a crash in FP3 on the RC Squadra Corse BMW.

Related topics:Jonathan ReaItalyMarc MarquezTurkey

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