Jonathan Rea won the first race of the season at MotorLand Aragon in Spain, becoming the 100th rider to win a race in the World Superbike series.
The Kawasaki racer won pole in the morning Superpole practice and went on to win the race from start to finish, jumping out to a strong start and beating teammate Alex Lowes by just over four seconds.
The 34-year-old is the first rider in World Superbikes history to win all of his races in one class, and he joins Giacomo Agostini and Valentino Rossi as the only riders with a century of victories.
Rea had set a new track record in qualifying, putting him on front row of the starting grid for the race, and it was an advantage he never gave up as he began his bid for a seventh straight championship in flawless fashion.
Indeed, the real fight came for second, as Lowes just held off Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu to give Kawasaki a one-two finish in the opener.
Scott Redding, who finished second to Rea in the championship standings last season, was fourth, with Ducati teammate Chaz Davies fifth and BMW’s Tom Sykes sixth.
On Sunday, the Championship continues in Aragon with the Superpole Race at 10 a.m. UK time, followed by Race 2 at 1 p.m. UK time.
The uniforms of MOTOGP racing drivers are currently available at the following websites for a reasonable price:
