The weekend racing action started at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve with thrilling battles on track with Race 1 from MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed a dominant victory of five seconds to reassert himself in the Championship fight.

It was the perfect way to bounce back from Rea’s worst race finish in six years when he finished sixth at Jerez in Race 2 by taking a commanding victory from pole position, with no one able to match the Northern Irishman throughout the 20-lap race. He was initially challenged by Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAHAMA WorldSBK Official Team) but a stunning lap time on Lap 4, half a second quicker than Razgatlioglu, meant he pulled out around a second from the Turkish sensation.

Razgatlioglu finished a comfortable second, five seconds behind Rea but almost two seconds clear of his PATA Yamaha teammate Michael van der Mark as Yamaha secured two spots on the podium; showing impressive pace in both Tissot Superpole and Race 1 to cement their status as front runners in WorldSBK.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) finished in fourth place after starting the race in third, having battled his way back through the field in an epic battle with Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) and, initially, van der Mark. While van der Mark was able to escape after passing Baz and Lowes at Turn 2 on Turn 10, the rest continued their epic battle. Van der Mark also dramatically lost pace when he had a false neutral on his bike, losing around six tenths before fighting back for a podium.

Redding had initially made his way from eighth to fight for a podium but lost pace in the latter stages in the race, as he fell back to Lowes on Lap 15 before Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) passed him on Lap 18 at Turn 1 before Baz followed him through at Turn 3. It meant Rinaldi finished fifth, continuing his impressive recent pace, ahead of Baz as the two Independent riders claimed a top six finish. Redding finished in seventh place, just holding off the challenge from Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team); Sykes claiming a top 10 finish after starting fourth.

Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) finished in ninth place after showing some late-race pace to apply the pressure to Sykes and Redding, but the Spanish rider was unable to gain enough. Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) claimed a top 10 finish as BMW scored a top 10 finish with both riders. Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) finished in 11th place, holding off the challenge from Leon Haslam (Team HRC) by one tenth as they crossed the line.

Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finishing in 13th place onboard his Kawasaki, holding off a late-race challenge from Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team); the pair having a drag race to the line with Spanish rider Fores holding on by just 0.042s. Gerloff’s teammate, Federico Caricasulo, claimed the final point paying position in the race with 15th.

Sandro Cortese (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR) was the only rider who crashed during the race, as he fell on the last lap at Turn 11, but Cortese is conscious following the accident. The German was transferred to Faro hospital following the incident where he will undergo surgery to stabilize a fractured vertebrae, with Cortese currently showing no signs of neurological impairment. He also suffered from a fracture of the right tibial bone.

Jonathan Rea started from pole but faced early pressure from Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team); the Turkish rider initially passing Rea into turn one but ran wide, allowing Rea to cut back into turn two. Rea would go on to build a gap to Razgatlioglu, extending his lead with every lap of the 10-lap race. Razgatlioglu finished the race in second place with Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) securing his WorldSBK podium since 2014.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) will start from the second row after he secured a fourth-place finish in the Superpole Race, fending off an early challenge from Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) as he tried to pass both Redding and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) at Turn 1 on Lap 3; Lowes holding on to fourth while Sykes moved down to sixth place.

Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) secured a third row start with seventh in the Tissot Superpole Race, finishing more than four seconds clear of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) and Leon Haslam (Team HRC) who were battling hard for eighth place throughout the latter stages of the race, with Rinaldi holding on to eighth and Haslam finishing in ninth to claim the last points-paying position of the race.

There was an incident between Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) and Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) on Lap 2 at the Turn 5 hairpin, with both riders falling down the order but able to continue; Davies retiring from the race a few laps later. Maximilian Scheib (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) and Marco Melandri (Barni Racing Team) also both ran off the track at Turn 3 with a handful of laps to go but were able to continue at that point.

The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship standings have a new leader in 2020 following race two at the Motul Portuguese Round as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) moved to the top of the standings following his third race win in 2020 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.

Rea initially faced a challenge from Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) and Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) with the Turkish sensation on the inside at Turn 1, but Rea swept around the outside of both Razgatlioglu and Baz to keep the lead and pulled out a gap to claim a dominant victory; moving to the top of the Championship by four points.

Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) claimed a stunning second place after making up three places from his starting position, the British rider ensuring Rea could not pull too far away in the championship standings, having an almost race-long battle with Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team); the Dutch rider finishing the 20-lap race in third place.

Redding’s Ducati teammate, Chaz Davies claimed a fourth place finish as he fought his way through the field, finishing two seconds clear of Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) as the Spanish rider secured his best finish of the 2020 season; battling his way through the field to secure a top five finish. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) claimed a sixth place finish after showing another solid performance as he continued his impressive recent form.

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) secured a seventh placed finish for BMW, two seconds back from Rinaldi but almost 12 seconds clear of the recovering Razgatlioglu in eighth; the Turkish sensation battling back from a crash at Turn 5 to claim a points finish. He battled with Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) in the latter stages of the race, taking advantage of the Italian running wide at turn five with just a couple of laps to go.

Leandro “Tati” Mercado (Motocorsa Racing) secured his best result of 2020 with 10th place, holding off a challenge from American star Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) who finished 11th. Gerloff had an incident with five laps to go with Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) with the pair coming together at Turn 2; Fores having to retire from the race while Gerloff could continue. Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) bounced back from a Turn 5 crash to claim points with 12th place, while Leon Haslam (Team HRC) finished 13th; also after a fall at Turn 5.

Marco Melandri (Barni Racing Team) finished in 14th place with Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance) in 15th; Frenchman Barrier securing his best result of 2020 as he picked up the final point available in Race 2.

Baz was forced to retire after a high-speed crash at Turn 15 in the early stages of the race while Maximilian Scheib (ORELAC Kawasaki VerdNatura) retired from the race following an incident on Lap 2. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) joined the list of fallers at the Turn 5 hairpin as he came off his bike on Lap 7, remounting the bike but bringing it back to the pitlane to end his race early.

Rea taking the Championship lead means there have now been four different Championship leaders after Razgatlioglu, Lowes and Redding.

Action in FIM Supersport World Championship resumed with Race 1 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve as Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) claimed victory at the Motul Portuguese Round as he equalled a record set three years ago by WorldSSP legend Kenan Sofuoglu.

Sofuoglu won four consecutive races in WorldSSP on three occasions, the most recent time coming in 2017, a record Locatelli has now equalled following an epic battle throughout the first 11 laps of the 17-lap race to claim his fourth consecutive victory in his rookie season. Locatelli had been battling with Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) throughout the race and, despite pulling a gap of around one second, Cluzel was starting to come back at Locatelli.

He pulled out around half-a-second on Lap 11 to close the gap to 0.6s but while pushing hard to close the gap and apply pressure, he came off his bike at Turn 5. He was able to remount and continue the race, re-joining in sixth place. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was able to take advantage of Cluzel’s error to come home in second place with Raffaele de Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) completing the podium after a titanic three-way battle including a drag race to the line with Corentin Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha) and Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing).

Perolari and Cluzel initially jumped Locatelli at the start of the race, putting Locatelli under pressure to fight back. Locatelli was able to pass both at Turn 1 on Lap 2 before the Italian battled for a few laps with Cluzel, passing him on Lap 6 before pulling out a gap. It turned out to be the race-winning move to secure his fourth consecutive win; the first time it’s been done to start a season.

Perolari finished in fourth place, jumping Viñales on the run to the line after Viñales lost out to de Rosa and Perolari; the Spanish rider initially passing de Rosa on the final lap at Turn 12, an ambitious move that looked to clinch a podium. However, both de Rosa and Perolari were able to pass him on the run down to the line. The trio were separated by just 0.018s across the line. Cluzel finished the race in sixth place following his crash.

Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finished the race in seventh place, having almost been in a race of his own as he finished six seconds behind Cluzel but more than one second clear of South African rider Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Racing). Odendaal had a titanic battle with Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing) for eighth place, with the Estonian missing out by 0.096s as they raced to the line.

Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) completed the top 10 as the 2019 WorldSSP Champion continued his adaption to WorldSSP machinery, finishing 6.3s clear of Danny Webb (WRP Wepol Racing). Peter Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth) finished in 12th with Axel Bassani (Soradis Yamaha Motoxracing) the highest-placed WorldSSP Challenge competitor with 13th overall.

Wildcard Miquel Pons (H43 Team NOBBY) finished in 14th place with Loris Cresson (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth) picking up the final point. There were a number of incidents throughout the race with Kevin Manfredi (Altogoo Racing Ream), Andy Verdoïa (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing), Luigi Montella (DK Motorsport), Federico Fuligni (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Can Öncü (Turkish Racing Team) all failing to finish.