Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies has delighted the home crowd at Imola’s WorldSBK round after taking pole position for this afternoon’s first race but he was pushed all the way by Tom Sykes who trailed the Panigale pilot by just three one-hundredths of a second.
As the field put a new Pirelli qualifier to use, Davies was immediately in charge, setting a 1’46.601 on his opening lap with Sykes chasing but reigning champion Jonathan Rea got in on the act, demoting his works Kawasaki team-mate with a 1’46.797.
MV Agusta’s Leon Camier was also determined to get in the mix, breaking into the 1’46s for the first time on his first run while Sykes edged closer to Davies, cutting the gap to 0.082s with a 1’46.683.
With four minutes left, Davies went under the 1’46s with a 1’45.792 as old mucker Camier slid into second place with a 1’46.525 and then bettered it with his next lap of 1’46.434. Rea was still in the hunt and displaced Camier with a 1’45.986 before Sykes barged his way into second with a 1’46.694.
Marco Melandri, on the second Aruba Ducati, put in a 1’46.610 to sit next to Camier on row two while Eugene Laverty bagged the final spot with a 1’46.617 to end less than a second behind Davies. Xavi Fores heads row three with Tati Mercado, Michael Van Der Mark and Lorenzo Savadori, who came through SP1, completing the top ten.
Alex Lowes will be disappointed with his performance, taking 11th place but more than two seconds adrift with Stefan Bradl next to him. Nicky Hayden didn’t make it through SP1 so starts in 13th, ahead of Roman Ramos and Randy Kremmenacher.
Jordi Torres has been struck down with gastroenteritis and did not take part.
