Jonathan Rea produced a masterclass in the Qatari desert at the weekend with back-to-back wins in the final rounds of the Superbike World Championship.
under the floodlights he got away brilliantly from pole to dominate the penultimate race of the season on Friday night, eventually crossing the finish line a clear 4.944 seconds ahead of second-placed Chaz Davies.
Having set a new outright circuit record lap in Superpole 2 earlier in the evening, Rea pushed his Kawasaki ZX-10RR to the limits over the course of the 17-lap contest round the 5.38km Losail circuit. He was untouchable at the front as he cruised to his 15th win of a remarkable season.
In Saturday night’s second race the Castletown-based ace crossed the line almost two seconds ahead of Ducati rival Chaz Davies, with Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) completing a British 1-2-3.
The victory gives Rea the record of most points in a single World SBK season (556), beating the previous standard set by Colin Edwards in 2002, as the Northern Irishman ends the year with 16 victories and 24 podiums.
’I love this event and the night race and I love the circuit. I just wanted to put my head down on lap one, I am really happy with the way the team have worked here, I want to thank each member of the team who have worked so hard with the bike.
’I am living the dream right now.’