Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies finished the 2016 World Superbike season in style, taking the second race win at Qatar and making it six victories in a row to equal Troy Bayliss’ string set back in 2002 but team tactics by Jonathan Rea meant the Welshman didn’t manage to secure second in the championship.
Davies won more races this year than Rea thanks to another impressive turn of form in the second half of the season and was on course to take second as the Irishman had charged past Sykes in the re-started second race but Rea was unable to catch Davies, so resorted to wheelies and crowd-pleasing on the final lap which allowed Sykes to take second, and second in the championship chase, on the run to the line.
Rea used a secret and experimental setup in race two which is geared towards the 2017 season and was incredibly aggressive from the re-start, riding the ZX-10R like he stole it to move from ninth on the grid to take second from Sykes on lap four with a new lap record of 1’56.970.
Davies had set a fast pace from the get-go and responded to Rea, upping his game to stay ahead of the charging Castletown resident even though Rea was taking half a second a lap out of him. Rea called time on his challenge halfway through the penultimate lap and then cruised, looking behind for the number 66 and timing it right so Sykes was able to pass on the exit of the last corner.
The pair then pulled off track at turn one and hugged, which was surprising as there is no love lost between them.
Sylvain Guintoli backed up his podium from yesterday with fourth place while Leon Haslam put in a sterling effort to take fifth place on the Pedercini Kawasaki. Jordi Torres ended in seixth, Nicky Hayden seventh, Xai Fores eighth, Raffaele De Rosa ninth and Alex Lowes took tenth after an off-track excursion in the opening leg of the race saw him re-start way down the order. Leon Camier finished in 13th.
