Chaz Davies destroyed the opposition as he cruised to victory by more than 10 seconds in the opening World Superbike race at Lausitzring – as championship leader Jonathan Rea crashed out to blow the title fight wide open.
After taking pole this morning, Davies was looking strong ahead of the 21 lap race, as he got a clean start on his aruba.it Ducati as the lights turned green.
Tom Sykes was also quick off the line from second on the grid, but the Kawasaki Racing Team man wasn’t able to match Davies, who led the pack into the first corner.
Behind, Rea had also got a quick getaway from sixth on the grid, scorching past the Ducati of Davide Giugliano, the Ioda Aprilia of Lorenzo Savadori and the Honda of Nicky Hayden to move up to third.
Within two laps, Davies had pulled a gap at the front and was taking Sykes with him, as Rea sat behind in third. Italians Savadori and Giugliano found themselves in a battle for fourth, but soon Hayden, who was running in sixth position, was on the back of them.
Hayden moved up to fifth on Lap Four as Giugliano looked to be having issues with his Ducati, and began to close in on Savadori, who in turn was catching Rea.
But on Lap Seven, Rea’s charge and hopes of extending his championship lead ended in the gravel trap as he appeared to suffer some kind of gearbox problem, locking up his green machine which spat him off hard. He re-joined, unhurt, but pulled into the pits and into retirement.
A lap later Savadori crashed out, also from third place, allowing Hayden to move up to occupy the final podium spot. From here, very little changed at the front.
Davies had a strong command on the race, extending his lead lap by lap to eventually bring the Panigale home 10.561seconds ahead of Sykes. Kentucky’s Nicky Hayden managed to hold onto third, bringing his Honda across the line around a second behind the Yorkshireman.
The Althea BMW of Jordi Torres crossed the line in fourth place, while Leon Camier scored a well-deserved fifth on the MV Agusta Reparto Corse machine having fought his way up from ninth earlier in the race.
Michael Van Der Mark pulled off the save of the day on Lap 16 when it looked as if he was about to lose the front of his Honda, but somehow managed to keep it together to finish the race sixth ahead of Giugliano.
Alex Lowes managed to recover from a slow start to take eighth, just one place ahead of his Pata Yamaha team-mate Sylvain Guintoli as Xavi Fores rounded out the top 10 on his Barni Racing Team Panigale.
Rea’s failing to score any points has blown the championship open once again, as Sykes capitalised on his team-mate’s misfortune. The reigning champ remains in front, but his lead has been cut. He now sits on 368 points with Sykes closing in on 342.
