WSBK Great Britain (2): Rea dethrones Sykes at Donington Park
Dominated two weeks ago at Imola by Chaz Davies and betrayed yesterday by his rear tire at Donington Park, Jonathan Rea managed to beat the "invincible" Tom Sykes this afternoon! The double Superbike world champion takes a little lead in the provisional. Just a little bit.
Deprived of the podium yesterday in the first round because of a tiny deviation from the trajectory at the exit of the penultimate hairpin of the English circuit, Marco Melandri (Ducati Aruba.it) benefits this Sunday from a meager consolation starting from pole position, ahead of Michael van den Mark (Yamaha WSBK) and Leon Camier (MV Agusta).
Eighth in Saturday’s race despite a low-speed crash in the Goddards hairpin, Chaz Davies (Ducati Aruba.it) will start from the middle of second row, flanked by the impressive Leandro Mercado (Aprilia IodaRacing) and Jordi Torres (BMW Althea) ).
Falling to a much higher speed by relaunching himself out of Craner Curves, Jonathan Rea had to be content with 10th place on the grid. He therefore starts just behind the three men on the first podium: Tom Sykes, Leon Haslam and Alex Lowes !
For information, the impressive cabriole of the "Number One" being most certainly due to a failure of its rear tire, Pirelli has decided, as a precaution, to withdraw from the selection for the race this Sunday all other copies of the same type..
Departure : Michael Van der Mark took off first from the grid but his Yamaha reared up a bit too much: Marco Melandri retained first place and plunged into Red Gate far ahead of Leandro Mercado, Leon Haslam, Michael van der Mark, Jonathan Rea, Chaz Davies, Alex Lowes, Leon Camier, Tom Sykes, Eugene Laverty, etc.
Mercado surprises Melandri braking the Esses and takes the lead of the race! Haslam took advantage of Marco’s slight gap to exit the chicane second but Leon was passed by Jonathan Rea in the next hairpin! The ruthless "JR" takes control of the race at the first corner of the 2nd lap…
The "Number One" flew instantly, while Mercado defended his second place dearly against a Haslam doped by his podium in the first round. Behind the Argentinian and the English, the Dutch pilot Van der Mark, the Italian Melandri and the Welshman Davies and the English Leon Camier are literally playing elbows !
Attacked by VDM in the entrance of Goddards at the very end of the 2nd lap, Mercado must widen his trajectory. He transplanted abruptly inwards to revive himself in the straight line of the pits but touched Haslam placed on the rope … The unfortunate Leon fell !
The No. 91 Kawasaki was still sliding on the grass when the already picked up Haslam waved big signs towards the lead. Ducati n ° 7 also left the track but remains on its two wheels: Chaz Davies regains the asphalt in eleventh position but falls back to 17th place for lack of speed in the stretch … A U-turn later , another Kawasaki, the n ° 15 of Alex de Angelis, falls alone in Coppice…
Far from all this tumult, the Ninja n ° 1 slams lap times a second faster than his pursuers! At the start of the third round, the two-time world champion was two seconds ahead of Van den Mark, isolated in second place following the fall of Haslam. But Sykes overtakes Melandri and quickly approaches the No. 60 Yamaha…
The English Ninja finds himself in the rear wheel of the Dutchman at the end of the 5th lap but Tom delays, waiting for the right moment to attack. Behind, the slaughter continues: Laverty then Torres fall and give up. Sykes neatly overtakes Van der Mark in McLean’s. Rea is four seconds ahead of him…
While Marco Melandri is aiming for the third step of the podium occupied by Michael van der Mark, Chaz Davies is fighting to move up a long peloton: the Ducati n ° 7 dislocates Leon Camier and his MV Agusta in the straight line of the return and validates his seventh place when braking the Esses.
Lowes and Mercado fight for fourth place, two seconds ahead of Davies. But the three drivers easily gain a place thanks to Melandri … or rather to the broken chain of his Panigale, which forced the Italian to abandon this second round.
Moments later, Mercado was also out of the race, but through his fault: put under pressure by Davies, the Argentinian overloaded the front tire of his Aprilia at the entrance to the Fogarty Esses! Davies immediately focuses on his next target: Alex Lowes…
The No.22 Yamaha is in fourth place: two and a half seconds behind teammate Van der Mark, and a second and a half ahead of their cousin from Wales, Davies. On the podium in the first round, Alex would like to double the bet this Sunday … just like a certain Sykes !
In front, Sykes signs a 10th lap a little faster than Rea: the gap between the leader of the championship and the winner of the first British round is then 3.5 seconds. Van der Mark turns much slower than n ° 66: the gap between the two men is close to four seconds at the end of the 11th lap.
Three seconds from the podium, Alex Lowes whips his official R1 to stay ahead of the factory Panigale of Chaz Davies, which sticks very closely to him. Leon Camier and Xavi Fores ride alone. Savadori and Ramos compete for eighth place, Jake Dixon (wildcard) and Raffaele de Rosa for tenth…
Chaz Davies treats the public with his great braking glides. The "Welsh dragon" is hot passing for the 13th time in the Esses, but he masters the kicks of his Panigale and starts again in pursuit of Lowes. No.7 overtakes No.22 at the start of the 14th lap, in the beautiful curve of Redgate.
Meanwhile, the distance fight between the two Ninjas continues: Sykes and his ZX-10RR set record times and reduce the lead of their colleagues – nevertheless rivals – two and a half seconds to eight laps from the end. "Major Tom" signs a new fastest lap in the 16th loop but Rea still resists…
Ten seconds behind Tom Sykes, Michael van der Mark is also fighting against Chaz Davies by interposed panels: "+2.2" shows him his team on his 17th passage in front of the pits, while Davies has just fallen under two seconds on Track…
The same gap separates Tom from Jonathan at the end of the 18th lap. The English pilot increases the pressure on the shoulders of the Northern Irishman by lowering his lead by half a second in a single loop! Davies does the same on van der Mark: the three podium places are far from being awarded…
The Top 5 is however assured for Alex Lowes who rolls alone 15 seconds behind Jonathan Rea. Ditto for Leon Camier, Xavi Fores and Roman Ramos who follow him at a good distance. Only Jake Dixon and Raffaele de Rosa continue to fight for ninth place…
At the end of the penultimate lap, Davies made an unstoppable braking attack from the Goddards hairpin. Twelve seconds ahead, Sykes is a big second behind Rea: aware that he will not be able to come back to the double world champion, "Major Tom" secures second place.
Jonathan Rea is therefore honored to offer Kawasaki its 100th World Superbike success. For this fabulous duo, this is the 31st victory in three seasons … It is one less than the Sykes / Kawa pair, winners of their 32nd race yesterday !
Chaz Davies completes a new 100% British podium after a breathtaking comeback: from 17th to 3rd place, "it was like playing Mario Kart, I saw motorcycles flying around me, to the left, to the right, in the middle … they had to be avoided and I had to explore the edges of the track ", will illustrate" Daviesiozo "in the closed park…
In the championship, the situation is less incredible! Jonathan Rea takes advantage of his eighth victory this season to take to the sea: "Number One" has 260 points, 55 points more (a double!) Than his teammate Tom Sykes and 75 points (three wins) more than Chaz Davies.
Marco Melandri’s score remains stuck today at 137 points, allowing Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark to come back to 16 and 35 points respectively from the Italian. Fores is close to the 100 point mark: the Ducati Barni rider should cross it in three weeks at Misano, ahead of the Tifosis !
Result of the 2nd WSBK 2017 race at Donington Park
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