Jerez WSBK: Davies coasts to crucial win in second race

Having won the first race with ease, Sykes looked set to double up after leading the field off the line and building a safe gap by the end of lap two.

His teammate Jonathan Rea, already crowned as the 2015 World Superbike champion after the first race, ran wide coming into Turn 1, which allowed Davies and Aprilia's Jordi Torres to get past him.

Allowing Sykes to stretch his advantage to 1.5s, Davies withstood early pressure from Torres and Rea with Leon Haslam soon joining the trio after an overtake on Honda's Michael van der Mark.

Moreover, Haslam passed Rea and the reigning champion then lost another spot to van der Mark.

At the front, Sykes started to struggle with his tyres, allowing Davies to consistently make up ground on him as the fellow Briton eventually eased into the lead.

The Kawasaki rider’s problems did not end with that, as he kept losing pace and soon found himself behind his teammate Rea in sixth.

Davies had no such problems and was untouchable for the rest of the race to claim the victory and his sixth top-two finish in a row.

The Aprilia duo of Torres and Haslam inherited second and third thanks to Sykes' tyre woes, but their podium spots were in danger due to pressure from the rapid van der Mark.

However, as they were entering the final stage of the race, the Dutchman lost control of his bike and ended up in the gravel.

Not challenged by anyone afterwards, Haslam attempted to steal second from his teammate but the Briton’s overtaking attempt saw him run wide on the final lap and Torres ended up the one leading Aprilia’s first double podium of the season.

Rea repeated his race one result in fourth followed by Sykes, who managed to stay ahead of the Ducatis of Matteo Baiocco and Michele Pirro.

Leon Camier got ahead of Sylvain Guintoli to take eighth, followed by Leandro Mercado and Niccolo Canepa, the latter enduring a difficult race from third on the grid.

Suzuki riders Alex Lowes and Randy de Puniet were both ruled out early on due to apparent mechanical issues.

Following his victory, Davies extended his lead over Sykes to 22 point for the runner-up spot in the championship with four more races to go.

Race results: