Sport

Rea extends lead with strong show

LARNE rider Jonathan Rea, riding the Factory Kawasaki, extended his lead in the 2015 World Superbike Championships when he took a win and a runner-up position in the two legs at the Motorland Aragon Racing circuit.

The result sees Rea (right) further his lead to 15 points ahead of round four next weekend at one of his favourite circuits, the Dutch TT in Assen, Holland.

Rea was made to work hard in race one when he had a titanic battle with race two winner Chas Davis, Rea prevailing by 0.035s.

It was a clean sweep for the British riders, with former WSBK champion Tom Sykes taking third place and fellow countryman Leon Haslem fourth.

In race two, Rea had to play second fiddle to Davis, who took a 3.1s win with Haslem third and Spain's Xaus Torrs fourth.

Afterwards, Rea said that he felt that he could have taken the second race win only for a slight mistake he made earlier in the race.

"I'm very pleased with how the weekend went and to get my fourth race win after three rounds this year is more than I could have wished for,'' he said.

"In race one it was a hectic battle and Chas was really riding well all weekend.

"Race two, I think could have been a little better only for a slight mistake halfway through the race. That let Chas grab the momentum, but like I said before, he was riding really well and deserved the race win.

"We now head to one of my favourite tracks next week in Assen where I know the Kawasaki will be very competitive, but there are so many riders this year all riding well so it could be anyone's race.''

Meanwhile the road racing fraternity was again plunged into sadness with the news that Manx competitor Gary Carswell suffered fatal injuries when he crashed during practice at Jurby in the Isle of Man on Saturday morning.

Carswell, an experienced competitor who had regularly competed at the TT races and who had raced at the North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix, died shortly after he was taken to Nobles Hospital.

Carswell spent a full season riding for Ballymena sponsor Hugh Murphy of HM Motorsports some years ago and had finished in fifth place in the Senior TT.

The Manx coroner has opened an investigation in the circumstances surrounding the accident.