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Imola WSBK: Davies does the double after red-flag delay

Ducati factory rider Chaz Davies pulled off a double victory in the World Superbikes round at Imola, charging through from ninth on the grid in the Sunday race.

Race winner Chaz Davies, Ducati Team

Race winner Chaz Davies, Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Davies, who likewise won both races at Imola in 2016, had struggled to make much progress during the initial start – but made the restart after a 40-minute red flag delay.

The first getaway was controlled by Tom Sykes, who had taken pole by finishing fourth in the Saturday race.

As he began to pull away from Barni Ducati rider Xavi Fores in second, Kawasaki teammate and points leader Jonathan Rea had moved up to fifth from eighth on the grid – with Davies running in ninth after a slow start.

But that part of the race wound up counting for naught, as an engine blow-out on the Grillini Kawasaki of Ayrton Badovini dropped oil all over the run-down to Turn 16, bringing out the red flags.

After a lengthy clean-up, the riders retook their original positions on the grid, but the start played out differently this time. Sykes managed another stellar getaway, but now had the MV Agusta of Leon Camier as his closest rival, while Davies harried Rea as they made their way up the order.

Battling Ducati works rider Marco Melandri for fourth place, Rea overshot his entry into Variante Bassa, slipping not only behind the Italian but also Davies and Fores.

Davies then cleared teammate Melandri when the latter made a mistake – and soon the Welshman only had Sykes ahead of him as Camier crashed out.

What at one point was a solid lead for the poleman soon evaporated, Davies finally catching up and overtaking Sykes with a forceful move down the inside of Variante Bassa.

Rea, having cleared Fores and Melandri, was soon with Sykes as well, and followed in tow for a couple of laps before finally picking off his teammate at the Tosa hairpin.

But Davies was three-and-a-half seconds ahead by that point and the status quo would be maintained until the chequered flag.

Sykes ran close behind Rea for the rest of the race but couldn't stop the reigning champion from recording his 10th top-two finish in 10 races in 2017 so far.

Fores held off Melandri to take fourth, with Yamaha's Alex Lowes sixth and Aprilia's Eugene Laverty seventh, the latter having exited Saturday's race in a fiery crash.

Having started last, Althea BMW rider Jordi Torres picked off Yamaha's Michael van der Mark in the end to claim eighth, with Ioda's Leandro Mercado making up the top 10.

Race results

Pos.#DriverBikeTimeGap
1 7 united_kingdom Chaz Davies Ducati 32'12.36  
2 1 united_kingdom Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 32'16.10 3.74
3 66 united_kingdom Tom Sykes Kawasaki 32'16.70 4.34
4 12 spain Xavi Fores Ducati 32'26.80 14.44
5 33 italy Marco Melandri Ducati 32'26.96 14.60
6 22 united_kingdom Alex Lowes Yamaha 32'44.57 32.21
7 50 ireland Eugene Laverty Aprilia 32'46.28 33.92
8 81 spain Jordi Torres BMW 32'48.29 35.93
9 60 netherlands Michael van der Mark Yamaha 32'48.46 36.10
10 36 argentina Leandro Mercado Aprilia 32'49.98 37.62
11 40 spain Roman Ramos Kawasaki 32'52.75 40.39
12 69 united_states Nicky Hayden Honda 32'56.10 43.74
13 32 italy Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 33'00.95 48.59
14 6 germany Stefan Bradl Honda 33'07.01 54.65
15 88 switzerland Randy Krummenacher Kawasaki 33'07.28 54.92
16 35 italy Raffaele De Rosa BMW 33'08.79 56.43
17 37 czech_republic Ondrej Jezek Kawasaki 33'27.67 1'15.31
  84 italy Riccardo Russo Yamaha 9 laps  
  15 san_marino Alex de Angelis Kawasaki 16 laps  
  2 united_kingdom Leon Camier MV Agusta 16 laps  
  86 italy Ayrton Badovini Kawasaki 18 laps  

 

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