Buriram WSBK: Davies wins, both Kawasakis suffer
Chaz Davies took his first and Ducati's third win of the 2018 World Superbike season on Sunday at Buriram, as both Kawasaki riders endured a tough race.
Checkered flag Chaz Davies, Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Starting from seventh on the grid, it took Davies eight laps to take the lead with Yamaha riders Michael Van der Mark and Alex Lowes taking turns out front prior to that.
Van der Mark managed to keep up with Davies once the latter got ahead, but the Dutchman eventually lost ground and the Ducati rider ended up taking the chequered flag by 2.1 seconds.
Lowes completed a double podium finish for Yamaha in third, followed by Jonathan Rea on the best of the Kawasakis.
Rea, who dominated Race 1, was in the leading group early on but lost time after running wide several times.
While he salvaged fourth place thanks to a late move on the Barni Ducati of Xavi Fores, he finished the race a full six seconds behind Davies.
The reigning champion's teammate Tom Sykes had an even worse race as he quickly dropped out of the top 10 despite starting from third position, and the Briton eventually retired in the pits.
Fores was fifth ahead of pole-sitter Leon Camier (Honda) and Marco Melandri (Ducati), who only managed to finish one place better than he did in Race 1 with seventh.
The Italian has conceded the championship lead to Rea as a result, but he is only two points behind.
Puccetti Kawasaki's Toprak Razgatlioglu, Aprilia's Lorenzo Savadori and Triple M Honda rider PJ Jacobsen completed the top 10, ahead of former MotoGP riders Yonny Hernandez and Loris Baz.
Eugene Laverty and Jordi Torres both crashed at Turn 6 on the fourth lap and were taken to the medical centre for check-ups.
Race results:
Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Chaz Davies | Ducati | 31'23.406 |
2 | Michael van der Mark | Yamaha | 2.185 |
3 | Alex Lowes | Yamaha | 3.884 |
4 | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki | 6.554 |
5 | Xavi Fores | Ducati | 8.973 |
6 | Leon Camier | Honda | 10.647 |
7 | Marco Melandri | Ducati | 17.523 |
8 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Kawasaki | 21.618 |
9 | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia | 25.345 |
10 | Patrick Jacobsen | Honda | 27.076 |
11 | Yonny Hernandez | Kawasaki | 28.668 |
12 | Loris Baz | BMW | 29.004 |
13 | Roman Ramos | Kawasaki | 30.434 |
14 | Jake Gagne | Honda | 30.527 |
Ret | Leandro Mercado | Kawasaki | 2 laps |
Ret | Tom Sykes | Kawasaki | 13 laps |
Ret | Ondrej Jezek | Yamaha | 15 laps |
Ret | Jordi Torres | MV Agusta | 16 laps |
Ret | Eugene Laverty | Aprilia | 16 laps |
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