Jonathan Rea picked a podium finish in both World Superbike races in Malaysia on the weekend to further extend his lead, while Max Biaggi once again made history as the oldest ever SBK rider to score a podium.
In Race 1, Tom Sykes started on pole and led early on, but was eventually run down by the competition as his tires wore down. His Kawasaki factory teammate Jonathan Rea took the win, Ducati-mounted Chaz Davies was second and Max Biaggi, racing as a wildcard entry for Aprilia, took the final podium spot, his 71st in SBK. Biaggi previously held the record for oldest rider to score an SBK podium, and this finish extends that record.
The win was Rea’s 12th on the year, but he had to fight hard for it, trading places with Davies three times on the final lap, and twice in the last corner. He’d charged hard from the start, going from eighth to third by Turn 1.
At the end of the race, Sykes had slipped to fifth, behind the Honda of Sylvain Guintoli.
In Race 2, the win once again came down to the final corner, but this time it was Davies trading paint with Rea and coming out on top. The third spot on the podium went to Jordi Torres, instead of Max Biaggi. The Roman Emperor crashed out in the first turn, ruining the races of Tom Sykes and Sam Lowes, who had to take evasive action to avoid tangling with Biaggi’s wreckage. Sykes ended in 16th, Lowes managed to climb back up to eighth.
Sylvain Guintoli got another fourth place, and teammate Michael Van Der Mark ended in fifth.
In Supersport, PJ Jacobson took the win, followed by Jules Cluzel and Lorenzo Zanetti.
After this weekend’s Superbike racing, Jonathan Rea now holds a 144-point lead over second-pace Chaz Davies, 452 to 308. Third-place Tom Sykes sits at 295 points, Leon Haslam has 259 points, and Jordi Torres is in fifth with 186.
