Image: Supplied.

Defending champion Jonathan Rea has hit the top of the standings in the 2020 Motul Superbike World Championship after sweeping the Portimao weekend in Portugal.

Kawasaki Racing Team rider Rea won Sunday’s Superpole race over Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) and Loris Baz (Ten Kate Yamaha), before going on to stand atop the podium again in race two.

After initially facing a challenge from Razgatlioglu, with the Turkish sensation on the inside at turn one, Rea swept around the outside to keep the lead and pulled out a gap to claim a dominant victory, moving to the top of the championship by four points.

Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Scott Redding claimed second place after making up three places from his starting position, the British rider ensuring Rea could not pull too far away in the points after having an almost race-long battle with Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha) for the runner-up.

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 in P5, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven Ducati).

BMW-mounted Tom Sykes secured a seventh-place finish, almost 12 seconds clear of the recovering Razgatlioglu after he crashed in turn five to remount and claim points. The top 10 was filled by Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) and Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Racing). Baz was forced to retire after a fall at turn 15.

Rea taking the WorldSBK championship lead means there have now been four different leaders in the series after Razgatlioglu, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Redding.

History was made in WorldSSP as rookie Andrea Locatelli (Bardahl Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) claimed his fifth-consecutive win, becoming the first rider to achieve the milestone ahead of Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) and Isaac Vinales (Kallio Racing). Lachlan Epis (MPM Routz Racing) was a non-finisher.

A thrilling Supersport 300 race featured a seven-way battle for the win, which was won in dramatic fashion by Scott Deroue (MTM Kawasaki Motoport) after a red flag with just two laps to go, ahead of Unai Orradre (Yamaha MS Racing) and Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki Motoport). Tom Edwards (Kawasaki ParkinGo Team) scored P7.

Detailed results