PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
Chaz Davies’ plan of hunting down long time leader Tom Sykes worked this time around as the battle for overall second in the Superbike World Championship continued at a hot pace at Jerez.
Joining the Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider on the podium was the Red Devils Aprilia Racing Team duo of Jordi Torres and Leon Haslam.
As the heat increased compared to race one, the start of race two saw Kawasaki Racing Team’s Sykes and Jonathan Rea ahead of the pack into the first corner, but Rea run wide, allowing Davies and Torres past.
Sykes would head out front to lead the first half of the race easily, but then Davies cut into his advantage in chunks, as Sykes slowed.
At the very start of lap 12 Davies was past the Kawasaki rider, inside at the second corner, with both bikes visibly moving around and Sykes having to run on peculiar lines.
Davies took a second over Sykes in one lap, with Torres and Haslam squabbling behind Sykes, trying to pass the hard braking 2013 champion.
By lap 13 Sykes had been swamped by four riders in total, with Pata Honda’s Michael van der Mark also ahead, then new champion Rea joined in.
Davies kept a strong pace, one that Torres and Haslam could not control and when van der Mark fell out of podium contention on lap 17 it was an all-Aprilia battle for the final podium places.
Torres was to win that fight, with Haslam third, Rea fourth, Sykes fifth and the advancing privateer Althea Racing Ducati of Matteo Baiocco sixth.
Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Michelle Pirro was the second official Ducati rider home in seventh.
MV Agusta Reparto Corse’s Leon Camier was eighth. Van der Mark’s teammate Sylvain Guintoli and Leandro Mercado on the Barni Racing Team Ducati closed out the top 10 positions.
In addition to Rea’s own Riders’ Championship win in race one, Kawasaki also won the Manufacturers’ Championship after race two.
2015 World Superbike
Jerez Race One Results:
1. Chaz Davies (Ducati)
2. Jordi Torres (Aprilia)
3. Leon Haslam (Aprilia)
4. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki)
5. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
6. Matteo Baiocco (Ducati)
7. Michele Pirro (Ducati)
8. Leon Camier (MV Agusta)
9. Sylvain Guintoli (Honda)
10. Leandro Mercado (Ducati)
