Ganesh Kendale
Jonathan Rea finished 14th in the opening World Superbike race of the weekend at Aragon in Spain on his return from injury as Italian Andrea Iannone secured his maiden win in the series.
Six-time world champion Rea was forced to sit out last weekend’s action at the Italian round at Cremona after suffering a hand injury at Magny-Cours in France but was passed fit to resume racing for his Pata Yamaha team this time out.
Ducati-mounted Iannone saw off the challenge of series leader Toprak Razgatlioglu to take victory by 0.84 seconds, with American Garrett Gerloff third and defending champion Alvaro Bautista fourth.
Iannone becomes the 19th rider to win a MotoGP and a World Superbike race.
Razgatlioglu had missed the last six races as he recovered from injury but the BMW rider extended his lead at the top of the standings to 33 points with his runner-up finish on Saturday.
The Turkish rider was able to take advantage of the misfortune of his nearest challenger, Nicolo Bulega, who was unable to start the race after his Ducati suffered a technical problem during the warm-up lap.
The Superpole race is scheduled for 10:00 BST on Sunday, with the second feature race to take place three hours later.
