WSBK Italy (1): red carpet and flag for Davies

Unbeatable in 2016 at Imola at the controls of his factory Ducati, Chaz Davies remained so this Saturday during the first round of 2017! The interruption of the race six laps from the end only shortened the suffering of Jonathan Rea… but offered the third place to Marco Melandri ?

Departure : Chaz Davies got off to a very good start but Marco Melandri started even stronger from the second row and passed the two Kawa of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes in the first sequence. Eugene Laverty doubles back on Leon Camier then Xavi Fores at the start of the first lap. Leandro Mercado, Michael Van den Mark and Alex Lowes complete the Top 10.

Davies completes a cannon 1st round and has a full second lead at the start of the 2nd! Melandri dominates Rea who is indeed faster than Sykes on the racing tires. Laverty moves away from Fores who precedes the peloton made up of Camier, VDM, Lowes and Bradl.

At the very end of the 2nd lap, Rea gets lost in the final chicane and yields more than a second to Melandri who turns a little faster than his teammate and leader of the race! The Italian continues to attack in the 3rd loop, holds a second behind Rea but loses ground on Chaz who breaks Marco’s lap record.

In the background, a good five seconds behind the leading Ducati n ° 7, Fores swooped down on Laverty and passed him at the start of the 4th lap. Mercado, who was fighting a little further with the two Yamaha, loses the front of his Aprilia in the large Tosa pin. The race is already over for the Italian! Ditto for Hayden who returns to the stand…

The three seconds advance does not encourage Davies to give up the gas, on the contrary! The n ° 7 Ducati is doing well, because his n ° 33 teammate has gradually been caught by the n ° 1 Kawa. The ruthless "JR" seems very comfortable on his Ninja and overtakes Melandri on the braking of the Alta variant in the 5th lap.

Jonathan Rea is four seconds behind Chaz Davies at the start of the 6th lap. A second faster than Marco Melandri, the Northern Irishman is half a second slower than the Welshman: there are still 13 laps to go, but the two-time world champion may find it difficult to compete for victory at the author of the double at Imola last year…

Two seconds behind Rea, Sykes in turn climbs back to Melandri. Fores drives alone in fifth position but another superb duel keeps the Italian public in suspense: the MV Agusta n ° 2 driven by Leon Camier threatens the Aprilia n ° 50 of Eugene Laverty !

Much faster than "Youdjine", "Lionne" easily won the braking of turn 7 in the 8th lap and moved away irresistibly. Xavi and his Panigale are five seconds ahead of the Englishman and his F4, but they turn at the same pace.

Laverty meanwhile, spins a second slower than Van den Mark who quickly places his R1 in the rear wheel of the RSV4! The Dutchman executed the same attack as Leon Camier three laps earlier and took seventh place. Alex Lowes in turn puts poor Eugene in his sights…

In front, Chaz "Daviesiozo" continues to impress his pace in the lead. His lead over Rea exceeded six seconds at the start of the 11th lap! The Ducati rider spins almost half a second faster than his best enemy on the No. 1 Kawa and his two pursuers – at two seconds – Marco and Tom.

Twenty-five seconds behind Davies (!), Lowes and Laverty are bitterly fighting for 8th place … a little too much besides, to such an extent that the two opponents’ motorcycles touch each other on the descent towards Rivazza. Eugene loses control of his machine (no more brakes, presumably) and has to jump running !

Aprilia hits a protective rail at full speed and immediately catches fire: the marshals instantly raise the red flags! Somewhat stunned by his voluntary fall, Laverty got up on his own and joined the edges of the circuit. Phew !

Chaz Davies, he raises his arms: interrupted in his 13th lap out of 19, the race is officially declared over! The poleman and lap record holder therefore won this first Italian round a little earlier than expected..

Jonathan Rea took a solid second place ahead of Marco Melandri’s second factory Ducati. Housed in the asp of the "Hedgehog of Ravenna", Tom Sykes is perhaps disappointed by this early end: who knows if the n ° 66 did not wait for the last lap to pass on the attack, as he does. had done at Buriram ?

Xavi Fores places a third Ducati in the Top 5 this Saturday at Imola. Leon Camier can also be satisfied with hoisting the only MV Agusta of the WSBK field to sixth place in his national race. Conversely, Van den Mark and Lowes cannot congratulate themselves on their 7th and 8th places: on average, Michael and Alex turned two seconds slower than Chaz…

Result of the 1st WSBK 2017 race in Imola

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