A Kawasaki rider is once again the World Superbike champion.
Tom Sykes took Superpole on Saturday and won Race 1, but it was his teammate Jonathan Rea who clinched his first-place position in the championship race with a fourth-place in the same race. It was Rea’s first year racing with the Kawasaki superbike team, and you can bet they’re glad they signed him (although Sykes, who was a frontrunner until Rea showed up, might regret it).
In the races at Jerez today, it was Sykes, Chaz Davies (Ducati), and Michael Van Der Mark (Honda) finishing 1-2-3 respectively in the first showdown. In the second race, Davies took first, Jordi Torres (Aprilia) was second and Leon Haslam (Aprilia) was third.
En route to the championship, Rea won 12 races, landing on the podium in 20 of the first 21 races. He now has 478 points; the battle for second place is between Chaz Davies (353 points) and Tom Sykes (331 points). Leon Haslam has 286 points for fourth, so he’s almost out of the chase for a top-three finish in the standings. Jordi Torres is fifth right now with 210 points.
