WSBK Qatar (2): Davies ends the year in style
The last race of the 2016 World Superbike season has just been won by Chaz Davies. Despite his three consecutive doubles (!), Ducati rider n ° 7 loses the "title" of vice-world champion against a Tom Sykes boosted by his teammate Jonathan Rea.
At the end of the warm-up, Davide Giugliano was removed from the second Qatari round by the medical team: according to the latter, the Italian’s shoulder damaged this summer is not strong enough to withstand the 17 laps of the race.
Forced to mount a ninth engine (one too many!) On his Fireblade to participate in this final battle of the 2016 season, Nicky Hayden will not start from his second place on the grid but from the pit lane, five seconds after his little ones comrades…
The chances for the American to steal his Dutch teammate his fourth place in the championship are seriously diminishing: as a reminder, Michael van den Mark has 23 points more than Nicky. The fight for second place, however, is wide open: Chaz Davies is just 7 points behind Tom Sykes !
Departure : Jonathan Rea got off to a magnificent start then was surprised under braking by Chaz Davies, but the pole-sitter recovered from the second corner. Sylvain Guintoli settles in third position ahead of Tom Sykes, Xavi Fores, Leon Camier, Leon Haslam, Rafaelle de Rosa, Alex de Angelis, Josh Brookes, etc. Behind, Lorenzo Savadori and Alex Lowes went straight into the very first corner.
Davies and Rea start the second lap neck and neck … At the end of the straight, Rea gets off the track! The two-time champion leaves fourteenth … Guintoli therefore inherits second place, a small second behind Davies but our "Frenchie" is overtaken by Sykes in the third lap and immediately put under pressure by Fores.
On his second run through the pits, Davies is warned that Sykes and Guintoli are one second away while Rea is thirteenth. Paradoxically, the "Chazie" is perhaps not delighted to see "Johnny" disappear: he was counting on the n ° 1 to insert himself between Sykes and himself in order to win the "title" of vice-world champion…
New referee in this match for second place in the championship, Guintoli tries to overtake Sykes in the first – huge – braking of the fourth lap but cannot catch up with the rope and remains behind Tom. The 2013 champion accelerates in the next two loops, creating a lead of one second over Guintoli and Fores.
Six seconds behind the unbeatable Davies, four drivers are fighting for the Top 5: guest drivers De Rosa and Haslam fight against holders De Angelis and Torres. Leon also made a small mistake in the 6th lap but remained in contact with his little comrades….
Another agitated group circulates a second away: Jonathan Rea has joined Leon Camier and Michael van den Mark! "The ruthless JR" makes short work of his compatriot and then of his former Honda team-mate in the 7th lap and quickly propels himself into the wheel of Aprilia n ° 15 which follows the two BMW Althea: n ° 81 de Torres passed in front of n ° 35 de Rosa.
There are ten laps to go when Saeed Al Sulaiti’s engine breaks down in the straight line and catches fire … The Qatari driver quickly exits the gravel pit but the race management prefers to interrupt the race to clean the track and properly evacuate Ninja # 11.
The order of the second starting grid corresponds to the order of passage of the pilots during the last complete lap, namely Davies, Sykes, Guintoli, Fores, De Rosa, Torres, De Angelis, Haslam, Rea – whose mechanics benefit from the quarter of an hour of exposure to work on the clutch of the Ninja n ° 1, Van den Mark, Camier, Ramos, Reiterberger, Abraham, Hayden, etc..
Second start, for 10 laps: the Ducati n ° 7 takes an impeccable start while the Ninja n ° 66 rears a little more. Tom Sykes and Chaz Davies beat Leon Haslam, Xavi Fores, Sylvain Guintoli and Alex de Angelis who rubs shoulders with Jonathan Rea but gives up a few moments later … "Johnny" attacks as in Superpole during the 1st round, which he finishes in dubbing "Guinters".
The double world champion tries to overtake his great friend Haslam and the fiery Fores on the first braking but must wait for the fourth corner to lock in the third place. Davies and Sykes are one second ahead at the end of the 2nd lap, but Rea has just set the fastest time…
Three seconds behind the leader – Davies, "who else?" -, Guintoli in turn approaches Haslam. The "Frenchie" then closes the "Top Five" behind four British drivers, and just ahead of the Italian Rafaelle de Rosa! Drills, Van den Mark, Torres and Hayden roll together, a second further.
In front, Jonathan Rea finds himself in the pot of the flamboyant Ninja of Tom Sykes … The "Number One" starts an attack in turn 15 but widens and cannot keep second place. One lap later, the Northern Irishman attacked the Englishman on the tighter turn 10 and passed !
Rea is a good second from Davies as half of the final sprint is reached. Jonathan’s goal is twofold: overtake Davies to achieve the same number of victories as the No.7 Ducati rider this season (10) and allow his teammate Kawasaki No.66 to finish second in the championship….
Ten seconds behind the leader, Nicky Hayden stood out by posting significantly better times than his predecessors. Ninth ahead of his teammate VDM, the American is only a few lengths behind Haslam fifth! Between them are De Rosa, Torres and Fores…
Davies and Rea set more or less the same time during the 8th lap, almost a second faster than Sykes who was four seconds behind. Guintoli also rides alone, in fourth position, three seconds ahead of the happy group fighting for fifth place..
Unable to glean the slightest tenth – of a second and a meter – on Davies on the penultimate lap, Rea suddenly drops his pace in the last loop: the world champion turns around and notices that his teammate is far behind , but alone…
"The ruthless JR" waits for his best enemy by doing a few rear wheels in the stretches and gives up to "Major Tom" his second place in the final curve. The maneuver, mentioned in the box of the Kawasaki Racing Team shortly before the race, gives Kawasaki its first double at the World Superbike Drivers’ Championship.
Third in the 2016 final standings (2 points behind Sykes, 53 from Rea), Chaz Davies consoles himself by pocketing his eleventh success of the season … and the sixth in a row, a performance that Troy Bayliss Himself is the last driver to to have realized, on a Ducati too, ten years ago.
Fourth of this second – second! – round, Sylvain Guintoli ends his difficult 2016 campaign in eleventh place in the general classification, 9 points behind Lorenzo Savadori on Aprilia IodaRacing and 10 points ahead of his teammate in the official Yamaha team, Alex Lowes.
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