Jonathan Rea moved into second in the all-time World Superbike winners list after taking his 53rd victory in dominant fashion in race one in Qatar.
The Northern Irishman – who took his first win in WorldSBK at Misano in 2009 – eased to pole position at Losail earlier on Friday evening with a new lap record, and a 15th win of his third title-winning season never looked in doubt.
Rea streaked almost a second clear of the field by the end of lap one and cruised across the line to his first Losail victory to move ahead of fellow triple world champion Troy Bayliss in the all-time winners list.
Despite the record looming over his head prior to the Qatar round, Rea admits it never crossed his mind and his aim was simply to add to his win tally in 2017 at a circuit Kawasaki had never taken to the top step of the podium at.
“It is nice to score one more win than Troy, but I never though about the stats at all,” said Rea, who now sit just six away from the all-time record of 59 set by WorldSBK legend Carl Fogarty.
“I never thought about the potential points record or anything. I just wanted to win a race here.
“I never thought about the potential points record or anything. Now that looks – with the way I rode today – like it is possible.
“I thought coming here to win, where Chaz (Davies) was so strong last year, would be really difficult.
“But it seems like we have found a little bit extra this end of season, to be honest. Of course, we have improve the bike, especially in the chassis area.
“I feel I have a lot more confidence than last year, I feel that I am riding better than every and physically I feel in much better shape.
“I have just been training myself a lot smarter. So it’s a combination of many things.
“The total package of the bike is really good and balanced.”
Rea will start Saturday’s season finale from ninth on the grid, and needs to win the race to take the record for most points scored in a single season of 552 away from double world champion Colin Edwards.
