Jonathan Rea dominates in Qatar to claim 15th win of season

ByPA Sport

Updated 03/11/2017 at 21:55 GMT

World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea dominated from start to finish to win the penultimate race of the season in Qatar.

Jonathan Rea of Great Britain and KAWASAKI RACING TEAM and Marco Melandri of Italy and ARUBA.IT RACING-DUCATI celebrate on the podium at the end of the race 1 of FIM Superbike World Championship in Qatar - Race 1 at Losail Circuit on November 3, 2017 in

Image credit: Getty Images

The Northern Irishman, who wrapped up his third successive world championship at the end of September, got away brilliantly from pole at the Losail International Circuit and was never headed in the 17-lap contest.

Eurosport Player One Year Pass for just £29.99

Rea (Kawasaki) crossed the finish line nearly five seconds clear of Chaz Davies (Ducati) with Italy's Marco Melandri (Ducati) completing the podium.

Pirelli Dutch Round

‘Goes down in folklore!’ - Razgatlioglu wins ‘mesmerising’ race as Bautista gains Championship lead

00:02:30

21/04/2024 at 15:03

Having set a new outright circuit record lap earlier in the evening, Rea pushed his bike to the limit for the 15th win of a remarkable season.

World Champion Jonathan Rea storms to yet another victory in Qatar

After the race Rea said “It is nice to score one more win than Troy but I never thought about the stats at all. I just wanted to win a race here. I never thought about the potential points record or anything.

"Now that looks - with the way we rode today – like it is possible. I thought coming here to win, where Chaz was so strong last year, would be really difficult. But it seems like we have found a little bit extra this end of season, to be honest.

"Of course we have improved the bike, especially in the chassis area. I feel I have a lot more confidence than last year, I feel that I am riding better than ever and physically I feel in much better shape. I have just been training myself a lot smarter. So it is a combination of many things. The total package of the bike is really good and balanced.”

Jonathan Rea: 'I am living the dream right now'

Davies did his best to chase Rea down, but the Welshman had to settle for second in his bid to secure the runner-up spot in the 2017 championship.

Eugene Laverty finished two seconds down on Melandri in fourth, with his Aprilia team-mate Lorenzo Savadori completing the top five.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki), Jordi Torres (BMW), Sylvain Guintoli (Kawasaki), Leon Camier (MV Agusta) and Roman Ramos (Kawasaki) rounded out the top 10.

In an eventful race, Xavi Fores (BARNI), Raffaele de Rosa (BMW), Alex Lowes (Yamaha) and Michael van der Mark (Yamaha) were forced to withdraw either through technical issues or crashes on the track.

The second race of the World Superbike Championship's Acerbis Qatar round will be held on Saturday night.

Superbikes