WSBK – WSBK Italy (1): brilliant victory for Davies and Ducati –

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WSBK Italy (1): brilliant victory for Davies and Ducati

WSBK - WSBK Italy (1): brilliant victory for Davies and Ducati -

Dominated by Rea in the championship, Davies defeated the No.1 Ninja this afternoon at Imola. The Welshman wins a superb victory and grabs five points in the provisional … but his rating climbs much more with the Italians and Ducati ! First Imola Superbike race 2016 A collision occurs at the back of the peloton during the warm-up lap between Sebestyen…

Dominated by Rea in the championship, Davies defeated the No.1 Ninja this afternoon at Imola. The Welshman wins a superb victory and grabs five points in the provisional … but his rating climbs much more with the Italians and Ducati !

First Superbike Imola race 2016

A collision occurs at the back of the peloton during the warm-up lap between Sebestyen and Schmitter! The start is therefore postponed: some pilots like Davies, Rea, Hayden or Camier take the opportunity to leave the track … and go to the toilets to lighten up and gain precious milliseconds. ?!

Launched ten minutes later than expected, the first Superbike race at Imola is cut off by one lap: the riders will complete 18 laps and not 19…

Departure : Poleman Chaz Davies achieves the "hole shot" at the controls of his factory Ducati while his teammate Davide Giugliano is overwhelmed by the factory Kawasaki of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes. The Top 10 is completed by Savadori, Torres, Camier, Hayden, Van den Mark and Reiterberger.

From the first lap, the n ° 7 Panigale widens a gap of three quarter of a second on the two Ninja n ° 1 and 66. "DG34" struggles not to land the lead car, chased by the Superstock 1000 champion Lorenzo Savadori.

The leading pack was quickly shattered: only Jordi Torres and Leon Camier drove close enough to compete for 6th place. The five leading drivers (Davies, Rea, Sykes, Giugliano and Savadori) tumble down the finish line for a second time, separated from each other about a second.

The two Honda of the Ten Kate team, very efficient "at home" in Assen two weeks ago, are not in the rhythm at Imola: at the start of the 5th lap, the n ° 69 of Hayden is almost ten seconds behind of the leader and the n ° 60 of VDM is two seconds behind. Behind them, Reiterberger still closes the Top 10 with Alex Lowes.

While "Chazie" kept a small second ahead of "Johnny" (three seconds over Sykes and six over Giugliano!), Savadori could not prevent the return of the duo Torres and Camier. In the 6th lap, the Aprilia rider loses his momentum at the exit of one – of the numerous – chicane (s) of the circuit and lets slip two places at once !

In front, the ruthless "JR" does not release the pressure and forces Davies to continue to attack toc. The two men run scrupulously at the same times: under 1 ’48, half a second faster than Sykes and a full second faster than Giugliano…

Finally, Rea cracks shortly before the halfway point: too late on the big braking of the Tosa hairpin, the "Number One" widens to the point of biting into the grass but, luckily for him, manages to avoid the gravel! Rea returns to the track just in front of his teammate Sykes.

In the background, Savadori’s ordeal continues: easily passed by Hayden, the n ° 32 Aprilia is just as easily overtaken by Van den Mark. The latter also goes back to the American and fits into his aspiration in the 10th round.

Only a few lengths away from the two Honda’s, a group has formed: Savadori hears the Yamaha of Alex Lowes roaring behind him, the BMW of Markus Reiterberger – who is going to garden trying to overtake the R1 n ° 22 -, and the Ducati n ° 12 and 151 from Fores and Baiocco.

Far from all this din, Davies chained the laps like a metronome … set to Prestissimo! Released to more than 5 seconds with only 6 laps remaining, Rea contented himself with hoisting his ZX-10R out of the reach of Sykes’ No.66 and settling on the rhythm of his teammate..

Relegated to more than 13 seconds behind the leader (in 13 laps!), Jordi Torres is almost guaranteed to get fourth place in this first round. Leon Camier, on the other hand, must still be wary of Davide Giugliano: Ducati n ° 34 completes the 13th lap much faster than MV n ° 2 … But loses its tempo the following loop.

Like Camier, Rea is under a lot of pressure because he can’t get past Sykes: who will take second step of the podium? The situation is even more tense for Hayden, chased by Van den Mark, Savadori, Lowes, Fores and Baiocco.

Passed by Giugliano three laps from the end, Camier widens in Tosa. He found himself two short seconds in front of the group of furious people who were fighting for 7th place and who were now eyeing their 6th position … The official MV Agusta pilot concentrated and took back a little control. Phew !

Imperial in both practice and race, Chaz Davies won a magnificent first victory this Saturday. The Italian public acclaimed him as it should – as one of his own! – during his lap of honor and will undoubtedly pray all night so that the showers planned for tomorrow midday in Imola spare their "Autodromo" !

Threatened until the end by Tom Sykes, Jonathan Rea finally won second place and the corresponding 20 points. In the championship, the n ° 1 therefore lets slip only five points against Davies, and increases his lead over Sykes by four points. Failing to be excellent, the count is good for Rea.

See you tomorrow to follow the Supersport race live – Jules Cluzel qualified in pole position! – then the second Superbike race. Stay connected !

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