Imola WSBK: Rea wins again after Davies error
Reigning World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea took his second victory in succession at Imola, taking advantage of an early error from Chaz Davies in the Superpole race.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Rea, who had snapped Alvaro Bautista's 11-race winning streak on Saturday, challenged poleman Davies for the lead immediately after the start of the second race of the weekend.
He hounded Davies through the first few corners and lunged down the inside of the Ducati into the Tosa left-hander, only to run wide, handing Davies the lead and some breathing room.
Yet the Welshman then overshot his braking into the final chicane, badly compromising his run through the corner and dropping behind both Rea and teammate Bautista.
The trio ran in formation for the opening half of the short race, but Rea began to make his escape from Bautista around the four-lap mark.
A couple of laps later, Davies capitalised on Bautista running wide into Rivazza to overtake the championship leader for second.
But Rea was already a second-and-a-half clear by that point, and ultimately arrived at the chequered flag two seconds clear of the Ducati man.
Bautista dropped to seven seconds off Rea at the finish, while Yamaha's Michael van der Mark picked up a second consecutive fourth-place finish, halting Toprak Razgatlioglu's spirited early charge.
Puccetti Kawasaki rider Razgatlioglu then dramatically slowed in the second half, slipping back to seventh place behind the other Yamaha of Alex Lowes and Rea's teammate Leon Haslam.
Tom Sykes started from the pitlane after missing the warm-up lap, but dragged his BMW back up to eighth place at the finish, narrowly beating Pedercini Kawasaki rider Jordi Torres.
Sykes' teammate Reiterberger was 10th, just ahead of Go Eleven Ducati stand-in Tommy Bridewell and Ducati wildcard Lorenzo Zanetti.
Race results:
Cla | # | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 |
Jonathan Rea
|
Kawasaki | 17'45.405 | |
2 | 7 |
Chaz Davies
|
Ducati | 17'47.546 | 2.141 |
3 | 19 |
Alvaro Bautista
|
Ducati | 17'52.269 | 6.864 |
4 | 60 |
Michael van der Mark
|
Yamaha | 17'56.222 | 10.817 |
5 | 22 |
Alex Lowes
|
Yamaha | 17'59.617 | 14.212 |
6 | 91 |
Leon Haslam
|
Kawasaki | 17'59.927 | 14.522 |
7 | 54 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu
|
Kawasaki | 18'05.889 | 20.484 |
8 | 66 |
Tom Sykes
|
BMW | 18'06.169 | 20.764 |
9 | 81 |
Jordi Torres
|
Kawasaki | 18'06.362 | 20.957 |
10 | 28 |
Markus Reiterberger
|
BMW | 18'11.322 | 25.917 |
11 | 46 |
Tommy Bridewell
|
Ducati | 18'12.225 | 26.820 |
12 | 87 |
Lorenzo Zanetti
|
Ducati | 18'17.103 | 31.698 |
13 | 11 |
Sandro Cortese
|
Yamaha | 18'18.121 | 32.716 |
14 | 80 |
Hector Barbera
|
Kawasaki | 18'19.502 | 34.097 |
15 | 21 |
Michael Ruben Rinaldi
|
Ducati | 18'21.454 | 36.049 |
16 | 23 |
Ryuichi Kiyonari
|
Honda | 18'21.776 | 36.371 |
17 | 33 |
Marco Melandri
|
Yamaha | 18'26.078 | 40.673 |
18 | 52 |
Alessandro Del Bianco
|
Honda | 18'27.811 | 42.406 |
View full results |
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