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Championship protagonists reveal thoughts after contrasting Race 1 in Teruel

Saturday, 5 September 2020 16:52 GMT

    • Jonathan Rea extended his Championship lead to 30 points with second place while Scott Redding crashed out of Race 1

    The two Championship protagonists in MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship had contrasting races in Race 1 for the Pirelli Teruel Round as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) continued his podium streak at MotorLand Aragon while riding a Kawasaki as Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) crashed out of Race 1 as he was fighting for third place.

    The results mean Rea extends his Championship lead to 30 points as he continues his quest to make it six Championships in a row for himself and KRT, while Redding faces the prospect of overhauling a 30-point gap in order to stop Rea making more WorldSBK history with title number six.

    Redding, who said he was fine after his crash, reacted to Race 1, saying: “It’s a big gap to give to someone like Jonathan because he’s very experienced, he’s very good at managing. I know this before I started the season and made it very clear I need to keep pressure on him, I need to be there all the time and not let him get a gap in the Championship and I just gave him that gap. Now we need to do the best we can to beat him in every race. It’s all we can do. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes.”

    Rea gave his thoughts on the title battle at this stage, saying: “With three races per weekend now, anything can happen. We’re just passed the halfway stage; we just need to keep building which has been my strategy in the past, just to keep working until the end. The next two tracks coming up are really good for us and then Estoril, which is new. Our bike is working from a good base, always we can arrive and be fast so I’m looking forward to learning that one. I’m not really thinking about the big picture right now.

    Both Redding and Rea will have plenty of opportunities to take points off one another as the Championship nears its conclusion. With 11 races left to go across four different circuits, Redding will be looking to overturn the gap between the pair while Rea will try to continue building his lead at the top of the Championship.

    You can follow all the action using the WorldSBK VideoPass!