Great weekend for Jonathan Rea with a win on Saturday and two podiums on Sunday

Good performance from the Kawasaki Racing Team at the Most race track in the Czech Republic. Especially its star rider Jonathan Rea, six times world champion, who won the long-awaited victory in Saturday's race, the first of the 2023 season.

In qualifying for Superpole Rea he finished sixth, despite a crash that forced him to start from the second row. His teammate Alex Lowes would start from the fourth row in 12th place.

Saturday's race was marked by the choice of tires as the track was initially wet. Both Rea and Lowes were spot on the intermediate tyres, as could be seen when the track began to dry out.

Rea showed good pace at the start of the first race passing the leader Bassani on lap six. A position that he did not abandon despite the attempts of the Yamaha rider, Toprak Razgatlioglu, to get close without being able to snatch what was the 119th victory of the Northern Irish rider. On his part, and after a difficult start, Lowes was able to come back to ninth position, getting some valuable points.

Rea's strong performance continued throughout Sunday, taking second place in the ten-lap Tissot-Superpole race, behind Razgatlioglu and ahead of Bautista. Lowes rallied from 12th he started to finish seventh after an intense battle with Remy Gardner.

The second race was intense, Rea had an intense fight against Petrucci that was finally decided in favor of the Italian. So Rea finished third in a disputed race in which Bautista won the victory after the fall of Razgatlioglu.

Lowes was affected by an incident with another rider that took him off the track, finishing the second race in 14th position.

With the results obtained in the test in the Czech Republic, Rea occupies the third position in the World Cup, distancing himself 24 points from the fourth classified, Andrea Locatelli. Alex Lowes is eighth after scoring points in every race held at the Most race track.

STATEMENTS:
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team Rider): “It was an incredible weekend for me and the team. We did very well in the pitbox to not get excited or depressed because at one point we were miles away. The races went quite well, first on the intermediate tire in race one and then in the Superpole Race. In race two I didn't have enough to go with Toprak and Álvaro. By the end of the race I was losing a lot of traction and the bike became difficult to ride, all I could do was try to defend myself against Petrucci.”
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team Rider): “I was happy with the Superpole Race on Saturday because we had good pace. It was a shame to lose a position to Remy Gardner on the last lap… In the second race I think it was Petrucci who hit me and took me off the track without having a chance to react. That ruined my race because I lost ten seconds and went back to 14th place."