The Green Team Dominates

The Kawasaki Racing Team achieved a one-two win in Misano but it was Ducati’s Chaz Davies who really put up a spectacular show in Italy

THE EIGHTH ROUND of the 2016 World SBK Championship was probably the most eventful of the season so far. Just as in the previous races, the Kawasaki duo of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes dominated both the races but it was the championship contender and Aruba.it Ducati rider, Chaz Davies, who impressed the spectators in race one.

Race One

THE STARTING GRID AT THE Misano round saw Rea on pole followed by his team-mate, Sykes, in second; in third, however, was a new name. Barni Racing Team’s Xavi Forés, who rides a Ducati Panigale R in the championship, had qualified third on the grid. The two Aruba.it Ducati bikes had qualified on the fourth row of the grid with Markus Reiterberger of Althea BMW in between them.

As the lights went out, the riders were off, and Rea and Sykes peeled away from the rest of the grid soon. Behind them a lot of drama unfolded. There was a massive incident which was a chain reaction caused by Xavi at the front. This resulted into Savadori low-siding to retire from the race and Leon Camier (MV Agusta) and Chaz Davies (Ducati) going through gravel to avoid Savadori. Although both the riders managed to get back on the track, they joined the race lower down in the order.

As if that incident weren’t enough, Ducati’s second rider, Davide Giugliano, also low-sided on lap three, slipping way down the order. Nevertheless, Davies’ comeback was the talking point of the race. The Welsh rider quickly regained his composure and focused on getting back in the contention to win the race, or at least finish on the podium. He quickly moved up the order and at the half-way point he was already running fifth.

Meanwhile, at the front the Kawasakis had their own sweet little battle going on with van der Mark trying to get in the thick of the action ahead of him. Behind these three, Davies was making good progress. After staying in P5 behind Althea BMW’s Jordi Torres for four laps, Davies finally made his move on the Spanish rider and moved up a place to P4. Davies did try to catch van der Mark but he couldn’t do it. With just a few laps to go, Sykes started to challenge Rea for the win and the two were engaged in a duel right till the chequered flag. Eventually, Rea claimed victory with only 0.090 seconds separating him and Sykes. Honda’s van der Mark came home in third with Davies bringing his Panigale R home in fourth place and Jordi Torres completing the top five.

Race Two

THE SECOND RACE PROVED equally exciting although the drama this time was on the low-side. The race started with the Kawasaki duo leading the fray. This time, however, it was Sykes who was leading with Rea playing follow-up. Alex Lowes of Yamaha also made his way through to P3 with Xavi Forés and Davide Giugliano chasing the Yamaha rider. In the meantime, things turned bad for the championship contender and top Ducati rider, Chaz Davies, who lowsided out of race two.

On lap three Giugliano made his move on Xavi Forés and moved into P3, relegating Forés to P4. The race continued and the gap between Giugliano and Forés widened. Meanwhile, at the front, the two Kawasakis were pulling away from the rest with each passing lap. The most interesting bit came on lap 17. Rea, who had stalked Sykes for the first 16 laps, finally made a decisive move to wrest the lead from his team-mate. After gaining the control of the race, Rea simply pulled away from his team-mate. Over the last five laps, Rea had extended his lead to almost three seconds. The Irish rider (Rea) crossed the finish-line 2.9 seconds ahead of Sykes who tried his best to beat Rea but simply couldn’t. In third place was a very happy Davide Giugliano who overcame the bitterness of race one with a podium finish in race two.