The 2018 World Superbike season draws to a close under the floodlights of Qatar this weekend, another season during which Kawasaki rider Jonathan Rea totally dominated proceedings en route to his fourth consecutive title.
T he 2018 World Superbike season draws to a close under the floodlights of Qatar this weekend, another season during which Kawasaki rider Jonathan Rea totally dominated proceedings en route to his fourth consecutive title.
Rea goes to the Losail circuit with a 172-point lead and a host of records to his name – and others still within his grasp. Rea has won 16 races in 2018, only one behind the all-time record of 17 wins in a single season set by Doug Polen in 1991.
Sixteen wins in its own right is a an incredible achievement but we also have to take into account that six of those wins have been achieved when starting from a relatively lowly ninth on the grid (because the grid for race two is formed in reverse order of the first nine finishers; a rule change brought about largely because of Rea’s dominance).
Since the rule change last year Rea has won a total of twelve races from outside the top eight starting positions. The previous holder of that particular record with six was Noriyuka Haga. Six is also the current record for the number of double wins in one season, a record Rea (2017 and 2018) currently shares with Doug Polen (1991) and Troy Bayliss (2002). Another double in Qatar will see Rea pull clear and claim yet another record as his own.
T he conclusion of racing in Qatar will take Rea’s count of races heading the championship to 101 during his career, his nearest rival in this count is Troy Bayliss who managed 92.
Rea will also be striving to break his own record (556) for the most points scored in a single season, with 520 points ahead of this weekend it’s a record that could easily be extended.
