Superbike: Rea wins Race 1 ahead of Davies and Sykes

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) achieved victory in race 1 at MotorLand Aragon following a spectacular late battle with Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team), which saw the pair of British riders separated alone 51 thousandths to the finish line. The Welsh driver closed the one second gap that separated him from the leader in the final laps, after having got the better of the second KRT driver Tom Sykes, who had led the race for a long time, managing to hook onto the exhaust pipes of the ZX- 10R #65 with two laps to go.

Davies, thanks to a slightly faster second part of the lap than his opponent, tried to attack in the change of direction between turns 14 and 15, but was unable to maintain his position on the long straight. The former official BMW driver tried again to overtake his rival at the last corner, finishing slightly wide and thus allowing Rea to come out on top by half a hundredth.

This is Rea's fourth win this year, with the Northern Irishman equaling his single-season success record, achieved in both 2010 and 2014, in just five races.

The aforementioned Sykes closes on the podium, author of a more than convincing performance until just over halfway through the race, when he had to slow down the pace and was overtaken first by his teammate and then by Davies.

Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) won the battle with teammate Jordi Torres for fourth position, with Xavi Fores (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team) sixth ahead of Nico Terol (Althea Racing Ducati), Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing Ducati), Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike) and Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), who completes the top-10.

Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) exited the scene on the third to last lap, having crashed on the last lap, at turn 12, while he was in eighth place. Retirements cause technical problems for both Voltcom Crescent Suzuki riders, Alex Lowes and Randy de Puniet, as well as reigning WSS champion Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike).

Below is the finishing order for race 1:
Full race results (1) from the third round of the 2015 World Superbike Championship at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain.

1. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 18 laps
2. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R +0.051s
3. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +4.977s
4. Leon Haslam GBR Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 +15.088s
5. Jordi Torres ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 +15.290s
6. Xavi Fores ESP Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R +16.655s
7. Nico Terol ESP Althea Ducati 1199R +17.365s
8. Leandro Mercado ARG Barni Ducati 1199R +25.527s
9. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Honda CBR1000RR +34.464s
10. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta F4 RR +43.013s
11. Santiago Barragan ESP Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R +43.627s
12. Matteo Baiocco ITA Althea Ducati 1199R +44.893s
13. Roman Ramos ESP GO Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10R+47.663s
14. Christophe Ponsson LUX Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R +71.843s
15. Niccolo Canepa ITA Team Hero EBR 1190RX +75.919s

16. Javier Alviz ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +80.816s
17. Larry Pegram USA Team Hero EBR 1190RX +82.279
18. Imre Toth HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR +1 lap
19. Gabor Rizmayer HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR +1 lap

Not classified

Alex Lowes GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 + 5 laps

Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR 2 laps
Michael van der Mark NED PATA Honda CBR1000RR 9 laps
Randy de Puniet FRA Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 11 laps
David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 12 laps