ALCANIZ, Spain – A fierce battle between the two MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship leaders ended with Ducati’s Scott Redding taking the win and the point lead during the Prosecco DOC Aragon round at MotorLand Aragon Saturday.
Redding started the race from third place and held position in the early stages while polesitter Jonathan Rea, from the Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK, fought his way back through the field after a poor start. Rea ended up back in the lead after a couple of laps.
Rea was passed by Redding on lap seven of 18, but was able to keep with Redding after the overtake, although he couldn’t make the move back past because the Ducati’s straight-line speed kept Redding ahead.
As Rea continued to pressure Redding, the pair went side by side, with Rea looking to make his way back into the lead. However a mistake on lap 14, where Rea went wide, allowed Redding to stay in front.
Davies was able to get by Rea just a few laps later and started to close in on Redding, finishing the race just three tenths behind Redding as they battled for the lead.
The pair claimed a Ducati 1-2 finish after Davies battled through from ninth, with Rea claiming a podium on his 150th start for Kawasaki.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi once again secured a fourth-place finish in 2020 as his impressive form continued, with the Italian rider putting on a late-race move on Michael van der Mark.
Toprak Razgatlioglu was another rider who fought his way back through the field, as he finished in sixth place after starting outside the top 10.
Loris Baz was classified in seventh place despite starting on the front row and taking the lead at the start, while Xavi Fores, Federico Caricasulo and Leon Haslam filled out the top 10.
Christophe Ponsson had a crash during the race at the corkscrew section, which put the Frenchman out of the race on his Aprilia, while Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes also retired from the race. Lowes came off his bike as he came over the crest of the hill.
Tom Sykes pitted in the early stages of the race, with the British rider retiring, while Garrett Gerloff also suffered a crash in the first half of the race.
Alvaro Bautista and Maximilian Scheib both retired from the race after separate incidents on the same lap.