Jonathan Rea completes P.I. WorldSBK double
In novel rules that have been introduced this season to make the action even more gripping, the top three finishers in race one started from the third row of the grid in race two; riders who finished in positions 4-6 will start from the front row; and riders who finished in positions 7-9 started from the second row.
Yesterday’s stunning race one saw world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) defeat Chaz Davies Ducati) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki), so that trio has were ‘rewarded’ for race two by being shuffled back to the third row.
Meanwhile, Yamaha’s Alex Lowes started from’ pole position’ after his fourth place in race one, alongside Leon Camier (MV Agusta) and Xavi Fores (Ducati).
When the lights went out at 1500 this afternoon as scheduled it was Alex Lowes that was the hot starter ahead of Eugene Laverty, Xavi Fores and Leon Camier.
Laverty then moved up to second place and immediately started to attack Lowes for the lead on lap two while Xavi Fores tried to continue that pair in touch as Jonathan Rea started a move through the field and as they started lap three the defending World Champion was up to fourth. Rea then pushed Lowes back to fourth after the Yamaha man had already been gazumped by both Fores and Laverty on the run to turn one, the Northern Irishman then continued his march forward and by lap four the Kawasaki man was up to second place.
Fores continued to lead the race as Rea gave chase but the pace of the #1 Kawasaki was unrelenting and eventually Fores succumbed and Rea moved into the race lead on lap six. Meanwhile Davies has also been marching forward, and was up to third place ahead of Lowes, and very little covered that top quartet. Further back was Marco Melandri but the Italian showed his pace on lap seven with a new fastest lap of the race, 1m31.178, but was still 1.5-seconds behind the race leader but was moving forward to join that lead pack party.
Tom Sykes was trying to get in touch but was three-seconds down on his teammate as they started lap eight, with Michael Van Der Mark, Eugene Laverty and Leon Camier all in close company with the Yorkshireman.
The leading five were virtually side-by-side as they crossed the stripe to start lap nine. Out the other side of Southern Loop the pack had shuffled again with Davies then leading from Rea, Fores, Melandri and Lowes.
Badovini went down out of the race at this juncture, as did Nicky Hayden on the new SP2 Fireblade, but the Kentucky Kid managed to rejoin the race at the tail end of the field, although with only 18 riders still running he still had a good chance of scoring a few points. It was not to be though, Hayden eventually having to retire.
The heady battle amongst the top-five had seen Sykes start to close on that group, as he pulled clear of Van Der Mark.
Jonathan Rea hit the lead again on lap 14, as a trio of Ducati Panigale chased his tail, and the YZF-R1M of Alex Lowes tried to stay in touch with them, but looked in danger of falling back in to the clutches of Sykes.
Marco Melandri then took his turn to lead the pack from Rea, Davies, Lowes and Fores. The Italian then put in a 1m31.952 to stretch a few bike lengths away from Rea and pursuers but the other quickly responded to ensure the #33 Ducati could not get away. The middle stages of the race pretty much a tyre conservation strategy while not allowing anyone to escape.
In the final couple of laps Davies, Rea and Lowes managed to break away a little from Fores and Melandri.
Lowes took Rea for second place at turn four on the penultaimte lap, Rea got him back up the inside at Siberia and then closed onto the tail pipe of Chaz Davies’ Ducati. Davies led Rea through turn 12 and the Kawasaki sat in the slipstream down the chute to get the last lap board.
The top four then changed places numerous times through the first few turns but at turn for the final time it was Rea from Davies, Northern Ireland versus Wales, Kawasaki versus Ducati. It was still Rea across Lukey Heights, the defending World Champion then led Davies through turns 11 and 12, Davies in the slipstream to the line but it was Rea that took the win by two-hundredths of a second to make it a double to kick off his 2017 WorldSBK Title defence.
Josh Brookes had been engaged in a four-way battle over 11th position for the latter half of the race and eventually claimed four-points for 12th place just behind Alex De Angelis, but ahead of WorldSBK regulars Reiterberger, Ramos and Bradl.
Jonathan Rea
“To win two last lap battles here is pretty tough so I am so happy. It was different, tactical racing. We worked so hard in the off season to work on tyre conservation with my bike, and my tyre in parc ferme looks so good, on the left side of the tyre I still have a lot of wear marker left, so that bodes well for the start of the season. I just wanted to come here and start my year in a good way Before yesterday, I hadn’t won before the summer break 2016, so it is nice to start my campaign with 50 points.”
P2. Chaz Davies – Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“It was tight in both races and this one was even closer I reckon. Everybody had a little go at taking the lead and tried to break away at the front, but its near-on impossible here at Phillip Island so I just ran my own race. I tried to break away with a couple of laps to go but it wasn’t going to happen. We gave away a lot of points here last year, so to take 40 points at what is not one of our favourite tracks is good and look forward to the next one.”
P3. Marco Melandri – Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“It’s been a very good weekend, race one was difficult race two was even more difficult because I came from the back, which meant I was pushing the tyre a bit too much. In the last few laps I didn’t have enough grip to try and fight for a win, but those two guys were a bit stronger than me today. To be back on the podium in my first Round after a year and a half off is good.”
World Superbike 2017 – Round One – Phillip Island – Race Two Results
- Rea / Kawasaki
- Davies +0.025 / Ducati
- Melandri +0.249 / Ducati
- Lowes +0.956 / Yamaha
- Fores +2.320 / Ducati
- Sykes +4.781 / Kawasaki
- Van Der Mark +7.307 / Yamaha
- Camier +9.756 / MV Agusta
- Savadori +11.135 / Aprilia
- Laverty +20.123 /
- De Angelis +25.799
- Brookes +25.879
- Reiterberger +25.917
- Ramos +26.292
- Bradl +28.440
- Krummenacher +33.679
- Jezek +73.561
World Superbike 2017 – Round One – Phillip Island – Championship Standings
- Jonathan Rea 50
- Chaz Davies 40
- Tom Sykes 26
- Alex Lowes 26
- Xavi Fores 21
- Leon Camier 19
- Marco Melandri 16
- Michael Van Der Mark 16
- Eugene Laverty 14
- Jordi Torres 9
- Savadori 7
- De Angelis 7
- Reiterberger 7
- Krummenacher 7
- Hayden 5
- Ramos 5
- Brookes 4
- Bradl 2
