WorldSBK Indonesia Race Two: Jonathan Rea doubles up in wet race

Jonathan Rea does the double in Indonesia as he relinquishes the #1.

He may not be the World Champion anymore but he certainly hasn’t lost his speed! Jonathan Rea does the double in Indonesia putting it all on the line against Scott Redding on a soaking wet track following a downfall that delayed the race for multiple hours.

Well that was worth the wait! It was an absolute warzone today in Indonesia as the top 4 riders scrapped with one another for victory in a 12 lap thriller, Rea vs Redding and Toprak vs Van der Mark, the battles were nail-bitingly intense as the riders danced over the drenched tarmac in a battle of experience.

The race began with Toprak Razgatlıoğlu getting a stormer of a start from the line making up six bike lengths into turn one with rookie Axel Bassani also showing some incredible pace, the Italian rider proving to be a wet weather specialist this year with many podiums to his name in the tricky conditions, he sat within the top 5 for most of his race as Rea, Redding, Razgatlıoğlu and VDM traded places in the early laps. Unfortunately he was denied the chance to fight for the win after a race incident with Van der Mark ended his race prematurely.

It wouldn’t take Rea long to arrive at the front of the race leading the field after overtaking third-placed man Scott Redding before muscling his way through on the newly crowned world champion, from here Rea and Toprak would swap places nearly every corner with the Yamaha rider not showing any signs of giving up riding very much on the limit as we have come to expect.

This battle would eventually open the doors for Scott Redding to join as he pushed Toprak back to P3 into the clutches of Michael van der Mark, Redding then making a move on Jonathan Rea for an attempt at the lead, the pair of them also exchanging positions at the front of the race. From here Toprak and VDM would have a battle of their own racing completely on the limit. The pair looking like they were about to crash on each overtake as neither of them were willing to give way to the other riders divebomb manoeuvre, Darryn Binder would be proud.

As the last lap beckoned Toprak and VDM had died down, the pair being split by full seconds as Toprak accepted his fate of P4, a position his teammate normally occupies. At the front Rea and Redding were not giving in with Redding taking P1 heading out of the final corner hoping he would be able to hold off the six-time champion in this final lap.

Redding did a fine job of this but Rea looked like a different man on track today with his aggression at an all-time high, he muscled his way past Redding nearly causing a crash with only 5 corners to go, Redding trying to repay the favour before the final chicane but running too hot and going wide handing Rea the win by only 0.283 seconds, the pair joined by Michael van der Mark on the podium.

Finishing up in P5 was Tom Sykes in his final race for the BMW squad before his place is taken by Scott Redding, he led a GRT Yamaha duo of Garrett Gerloff then Kohta Nozanne, Andrea Locatelli in P8 making it a Yamaha triple. Rounding out the top 10 were Isaac Vinales and Alvaro Bautista.

Full results – 

Featured image – WorldSBK