Knockhill British Superbikes: Jonathan Rea wins race one at rain soaked Knockhill

Pole man Jonathan Rea paddled his way to victory by more than six seconds at a soaking wet Knockhill in race one of the British Superbikes Championship.

The race was delayed by almost an hour to allow the conditions to improve from the torrential rain which had fallen until half an hour before the revised race start time. The race distance was also reduced to 24 laps because of the conditions.

The rain held off until just before the chequered flag to allow the rider some chance of competitive racing with Jonathan Rea making the best of the poor conditions from the front row. 

HM Plant Honda rider Jonathan Rea led from the start of the race from teammate Ryuichi Kiyonari and had built a 0.773sec lead by the end of lap one. By lap four Jonathan Rea ws already 3.369secs ahead of Ryuichi Kiyonari as the rest of the field struggled with the spray.

Bike Animal Honda’s Leon Camier was in third but fell victim to Airwaves Ducati’s Leon Haslam’s determination for Haslan to go third on lap nine.

Leon Camier fell at Scotsman on lap 10, giving Leon Haslam the chance to keep ahead of fourth placed Rizla Suzuki rider Chris Walker.

Walker himself was relegated to fifth with fellow veteran Shane Byrne moving his Honda up to fourth on lap 14.

While Jonathan Rea increased his lead to as much as five seconds at some points another rider to suffer under the wet conditions was Quay Garage Honda’s James Buckingham who also fell at Scotsman. Scott Smart (Hawk Kawasaki) who was struggling with bruising sustained in a crash with Virgin Yamaha’s Tommy Hill in the warm-up and Neil Faulkner (Team Emco Yamaha) both retired to the pits.

Jonathan Rea took the chequered flag with a 6.844sec lead from Ryuichi Kiyonari in a HM Plant Honda one-two with Leon Haslam two seconds further behind for the final place on the podium.

British Superbikes race one results:

Jonathan Rea GBR Honda 21:28.015
Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Honda + 6.848
Leon Haslam GBR Ducati + 8.851
Shane Byrne GBR Honda  + 13.782
Chris Walker GBR Suzuki + 20.317
Tom Sykes GBR Honda + 21.994
Gregorio Lavilla ESP Ducati + 28.222
Ollie Bridewell GBR Suzuki + 42.951
Sean Emmett GBR Suzuki + 43.552
Karl Harris GBR Honda + 46.707
Cal Crutchlow GBR Suzuki + 51.530
Hudson Kennaugh RSA Yamaha 1 lap
Tommy Hill GBR Yamaha 1 lap
Stuart Easton GBR Kawasaki 1 lap
Paul Barron Ireland Yamaha 1 lap
Tristan Palmer GBR Honda 1 lap
Marty Nutt GBR Yamaha 1 lap
Steve Plater GBR Yamaha 1 lap
Aaron Zanotti GBR Yamaha v
Tommy Bridewell GBR Suzuki 2 laps
Tom Tunstall GBR Honda 2 laps
Malcolm Ashley GBR Kawasaki 2 laps
Peter Hickman GBR Kawasaki 2 laps

Non classified:
James Buckingham GBR Honda; Scott Smart GBR Kawasaki; Leon Camier GBR Honda; Neil Faulkner GBR Yamaha; Chris Martin GBR Honda;