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Super Stats: know the big numbers ahead of Sunday

Saturday, 19 September 2020 16:58 GMT

After Jonathan Rea took victory on another new track and we had the youngest ever World Supersport winner, there’s plenty to look forward to for race day number two

The 2020 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship had it all after Race 1 at Catalunya and the records continued to tumble elsewhere too. With the rain playing havoc across all classes so far this weekend, new pole records were achieved, and big numbers look set to be achieved on Sunday, as well as a shock WorldSSP win after a truncated race due to the chaotic weather.

  1. Jonathan Rea’s victory in Race 1 is the first ever at Catalunya, bringing Kawasaki their 340th race in the podium places.
     
  2. Winning the first race at Catalunya makes this the third circuit of which Rea has won the first ever WorldSBK race – this follows Buriram’s Race 1 in 2015 and San Juan’s Race 1 in 2018.
     
  3. Whilst it was Kawasaki’s 340th race on the rostrum, it was their 449th podium placement – this means they could achieve their 450th tomorrow.
     
  4. Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) fought his way to a 94th podium in WorldSBK, level with Troy Bayliss. It is his 84th for Ducati, meaning he could get his 85th tomorrow. All of Bayliss’ podiums were for Ducati.
     
  5. It was the fourth consecutive podium which was featured two Ducatis. This is the first time that this has happened since between Misano Race 2 in 2008 to Brands Hatch Race 1 the same year. The last time that it happened five times was as part of a 49-race streak.
     
  6. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) equalled his best WorldSBK result to-date with an eighth in Race 1. On Sunday, he aims to become the first American to achieve three consecutive top ten finishes since Nicky Hayden was ninth and seventh in Buriram in Race 1 and 2, and tenth at Aragon in Race 1, back in 2017.
     
  7. Jonathan Rea’s 27th career pole means he is now a clear third place in the overall pole rankings, one clear of Troy Bayliss.
     
  8. On the front row for the first time in 2020, Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) gave Honda a first front row since Leon Camier was third at Buriram, Thailand. It’s the first time that a Spaniard rider has put a Honda on the front since Carlos Checa at Miller Motorsports Park, when Checa was second.
     
  9. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) failed to get a front row for the fourth race on the bounce, his worst front row drought since 2011.
     
  10. In WorldSSP, Andy Verdoïa (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing) took victory in the Red-Flagged Race 1. He becomes the first rider in history to graduate from WorldSSP300 and take victory in WorldSSP. He is also the youngest ever World Supersport race winner.

Watch more dramatic action across the remainder of the Acerbis Catalunya Round with the WorldSBK VideoPass!