WSB: Rea does the double in Argentina

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea has stormed to his fifth consecutive double win in Argentina and his sixth of the season, taking victory in the second race from Barni Racing Ducati’s Xavi Fores.

Having started the race in eighth position due to the series’ reverse grid system, the Northern Irish rider took charge of the race on lap nine, despite suffering with food poisoning, before pulling a large enough gap to execute stand-up wheelies between turns in the final stages of the last lap.

MCN MODEL GUIDES

• Triumph Bonneville: a brief model history
• Our ultimate introduction to the BMW GS
• MCN’s guide to Triumph Scramblers
• Exploring the history of the Ducati Monster
• The lifespan of the Ducati Scrambler range

The victory was Rea’s 70^th in the class and his 55^th with Kawasaki, meaning he now matches Carl Fogarty’s record number of wins with a single manufacturer.

Starting from pole position, Fores did not relinquish first place easily, fighting back against the four-time world champion in a lap-long skirmish before starting to drop back. Today’s result was the Spanish rider’s fifth podium of the year and was enough for him to claim the top Independent rider of 2018 and top Ducati in the race.

Finishing behind Fores was a duo of factory-backed Ducatis, with Marco Melandri taking third spot and Chaz Davies bagging fourth 6.838 seconds down on the victor.

Rounding out the top six were fellow Brits Tom Sykes and Alex Lowes, who finished ahead of race on podium finisher Toprak Razgatlioglu, who dropped down from third spot from the middle of lap 15 onwards.

This was after narrowly missing the Aprilia of Eugene Laverty, after the Northern Irish rider crashed out of the race in front of him with 19 laps to go. Other non-finishers included Honda Racing’s Leon Camier, who was forced to retire his Honda Fireblade with a technical issue.  

The sole remaining Milwaukee Aprilia of Lorenzo Savadori came home in eighth place ahead of the second Pata Yamaha of Michael van der Mark, who remains 30 points ahead of Tom Sykes and third in the championship standings.

Find your next two-wheeled companion at MCN Bikes for Sale.