Jonathan Rea took his fourth World Superbike Championship win of the season in Race 1 at Nurburgring.
The race which was red flagged on the opening lap when Leon Haslam highsided at turn four taking out Troy Corser and James Toseland.
Corser and Toseland were uninjured but ‘Pocket Rocket’ picked up bruising to his right thumb and knee, but was able to take part in the restart.
Rea, who was pushed up to the front row after James Toseland’s qualifying penalization, took the lead at the first turn and from there dominated the entire race with Carlos Checa who inherited second place after Noriyki Haga crashed out on lap 8.
Checa was unable to catch the Ten Kate Honda rider, despite a hard charge in the final laps.
Cal Crutchlow starting in ninth took the third spot, but was a massive 9 seconds from Rea.
Points leader Max Biaggi who was expecting to take the championship title this weekend could not capitalize on his pole position and finished in fourth after falling back to eighth, however the Aprilia rider managing to stay ahead of his rival Leon Haslam who took sixth after long fought battle with Ruben Xaus and Shane Byrne, at the end Byrne would loose his eighth spot to Sylvain Guintoli.
An incredible performance by Tom Sykes on the usually uncompetitive Kawasaki who took his second top five finish after race 2 at Monza.
Luca Scassa closed out the top ten in a race that was characterized by numerous front end crashes and saw only fourteen riders make it to the finish line.
01- Jonathan Rea – HANNspree Ten Kate Honda – Honda CBR 1000RR – 20 laps in 38′42.
64002- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 1.
12603- Cal Crutchlow – Yamaha Sterilgarda Team – Yamaha YZF R1 – + 10.
00604- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Alitalia Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 10.
71605- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX 10R – + 17.
39106- Leon Haslam – Team Suzuki Alstare – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 19.
30107- Ruben Xaus – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 19.
61308- Sylvain Guintoli – Team Suzuki Alstare – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 19.
88009- Shane Byrne – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 21.
17610- Luca Scassa – Supersonic Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 29.
75211- Lorenzo Lanzi – DFX Corse – Ducati 1198 – + 30.
15612- Ian Lowry – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX 10R – + 53.
62213- Roger Hayden – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX 10R – + 58.
82014- Matteo Baiocco – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX 10R – + 1′25.
906Decimo è Luca Scassa (Ducati Supersonic Racing), davanti a Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati DFX Corse), a Ian Lowry (Kawasaki Racing Team) e al duo Pedercini composto da Roger Hayden e Matteo Baiocco.
Fine dell’elenco dei classificati, visti i ben 7 ritiri: cadute per il duo Ducati Xerox composto da Noriyuki Haga e Michel Fabrizio, così come per James Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda), Max Neukirchner (Honda Ten Kate) e Jakub Smrz (Aprilia Pata B&G).
Ritiro per problemi fisici per Troy Corser, coinvolto nell’incidente al primo start della gara, mentre rientro ai box all’ultimo passaggio per il pilota Honda Echo CRS Fabrizio Lai (il quale, per quanto spiegato in precedenza, era in zona punti).
The Northern Irishman made the most of his inherited inside front row grid position to snatch the lead at the first bend before protecting his advantage to the chequered flag.
Having been bumped up from fifth to fourth by virtue of a penalty for original front row qualifier James Toseland after qualifying, Rea signalled his ‘inside advantage’ during the first start as he grabbed the lead through the opening sector.
However, he would have just one lap to enjoy his time out front when the race was stopped following an accident for Leon Haslam and Troy Corser at turn four.
Haslam came down on the outside of the bend, sending various bikes scattering to avoid him, including the two Yamahas, but it was Corser that would find himself with nowhere to go as he was forced to come down.
Despite this, both riders made the restart, though Haslam appeared to be struggling with his hand after seemingly being clipped by a rival whilst on the ground.
At the restart, Max Biaggi got away best from pole position, but found himself nudged to the outside of the pack when Carlos Checa’s attempts to go deep instead sent both himself and his rival wide.
While Checa collected it in time to hold onto second, Biaggi was down to eighth.
Instead, Rea was out in the lead once more, followed by Checa, Noriyuki Haga, Tom Sykes and an ailing Haslam.
Further back, Corser continued his erratic weekend as he eliminated both himself and Sylvain Guintoli from the reckoning with a bungled move at the Dunlop hairpin, the Australian making contact with the Frenchman to send them across the gravel and to the back of the field.
Having started down in tenth place, Cal Crutchlow was making good early progress, passing both Haslam and Sykes to be up to fourth by the end of lap two.
However, while Crutchlow was moving up, team-mate James Toseland was down and out, the former champion crashing at Kumho after low-siding from his Yamaha.
Back at the front, Haga was pressuring fellow Ducati rider Checa for second, the Japanese rider – a double Nurburgring winner in 2008 – scything past on lap three.