Aprilia dominate WorldSBK Qatar Finale
Jordi Torres and Leon Haslam bring victory home to Aprilia respectively in Race 1 and Race 2 and Chaz Davies on his Ducati confirms his second place in the overall standings ahead of Tom Sykes
The Losail International circuit hosted the last round of the eni FIM World Superbike Championship season. In this final round it was the Aprilia riders who triumphed, Jordi Torres in Race One and Leon Haslam in Race Two, whereas Chaz Davies astride his Ducati, with a second place finish in Race Two, finished his Championship season in second place overall behind World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) but ahead of the other Kawasaki rider, Tom Sykes.
In Supersport the race win went to Kyle Smith on his Honda but Kawasaki, after winning the Manufacturer Championship title in Superbike, managed to accomplish the same feat in the Supersport category as well.
World Superbike Race One
In Race 1 the two Kawasakis ridden by pole man Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and his team mate, the 2015 World Champion, Jonathan Rea, got off the line well but by the first turn, Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team) had moved between the two standard bearers for the Akashi based manufacturer, with Alex Lowes (VOLTCOM Crescent Suzuki) chasing after the trio.
During the second lap Rea overtook Davies to take back the second place he had lost at the start, taking off to chase down Sykes with Lowes also overtaking Davies not long after to move into a provisional third place.
In the meantime the Kawasakis pulled the pin, building up an advantage of more than 2.5 seconds ahead of the rest of the group by the sixth lap.
In the seventh lap Alex Lowes, trying to keep Davies from overtaking, went long and was forced to withdraw.
At the beginning of the eighth lap Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) overtook Davies to move into third place with team mate Leon Haslam right behind him, also managing to get past the Ducati rider, relegating him to fifth place.
The reigning World Champion refused to settle for second place and during the tenth lap he overtook Tom Sykes, moving into the lead.
In the meantime Jordi Torres approached threateningly astride his Aprilia, managing to force his way between the two Kawasaki riders at the beginning of the twelfth lap and then, a lap later, overtaking Rea as well for first place.
In the final five laps the Spaniard was uncatchable even for Rea who attacked all the way to the end, giving fans a breathtaking race finale.
In the end it was Torres who came out on top, riding the Red Devils team Aprilia to the top step of the podium with the two Kawasaki riders behind him – Jonathan Rea second and Tom Sykes third.
The next three riders home were Chaz Davies, Michael Vd Mark and Leon Haslam filling positions fourth to sixth.Â
World Supersport Race
Between the two Superbike races the FIM Supersport World Championship race was held. Taking the race win it was American Kyle Smith (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) ahead of the newly crowned World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Italian Lorenzo Zanetti with the MV Agusta Reparto Corse team.
With this result, Kawasaki, after taking the Manufacturer Championship title in the top category, also won the Supersport Manufacturer title with 237 points and an advantage of 15 points over Honda, in second place, and 19 ahead of MV Agusta, in third place.
World Superbike Race Two
In Superbike Race 2 the two Kawasakis ridden by Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea once again got off the line very well when the lights went out, but from the very first laps it was an immediate battle with Chaz Davies, Leon Haslam and Jordi Torres.
At the front of this leading group of six was Ducati rider Chaz Davies, followed by Aprilia rider Leon Haslam and the Kawasaki riders.
During the sixth lap Jonathan Rea was forced to return pit lane and withdraw due to a technical problem.
Haslam managed to move into the lead momentarily in the twelfth lap but then he was forced to hand it back over to Chaz Davies a few turns later.
In the sixteenth lap it was Jordi Torres crashing out and a battle for first place between Leon Haslam and Chaz Davies.
In the end it the Aprilia rider got the upper hand, overtaking Chaz Davies on the last turn to snatch the top step of the podium from him. Behind them, finishing third, was Tom Sykes.
