Rea's hopes of closing win for Kawasaki dashed

2 years ago 40

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Jonathan Rea aboard his Kawasaki Superbike

Jonathan Rea slid off while leading his final World Superbikes race for Kawasaki as champion Alvaro Bautista completed a dramatic Jerez treble.

Northern Irishman Rea, 36, led by over a second after three laps but his mistake left him way down the field as he finished 17th after remounting.

That left Bautista to fight out an exciting duel with Toprak Razgatlioglu.

The Turkish rider crossed the line inches ahead but was demoted to second for an infringement on the last corner.

The race stewards ruled that Razgatlioglu, in his final race for Yamaha before moving to BMW for next season, had touched the green line even though his manoeuvre didn't appear to gain him any advantage.

Bautista's treble left him with an astonishing 27 wins 36 races during the campaign in addition to 31 podium positions.

Swiss rider Dominque Aegerter completed the top three after becoming the first Swiss rider to secure a World Superbike podium spot when taking second in the earlier sprint race.

After finishing third in the sprint race, Rea looked a man on a mission in the early laps of race two before coming to grief on turn two during lap four.

Rea's misfortune left Razgatlioglu in a hugely exciting duel with Bautista as they swapped the lead on several occasions before the dramatic and stewards-decided finish.

Spaniard Bautista took a dominant 1.4 second victory in the sprint race, which had to be restarted after Aegerter's engine blew, as Razgatlioglu, Andrea Locatelli and Remy Gardner completed the top six.

Rea is moving to the Yamaha ride vacated by Razgatlioglu after being unable to match Bautista's pace this season following his six straight titles for Kawasaki between 2015 and 2020.