Chaz Davies tightened his grip on second place in the World Superbike Championship standings with victory in sweltering temperatures in race two at Jerez. The Ducati rider left race one victor Tom Sykes trailing around half-distance before easing to victory ahead of Aprilia duo Jordi Torres and Leon Haslam with newly crowned champion Jonathan Rea fourth.
From the front row of the grid, the Kawasaki pair made solid starts but Rea skated wide at the first corner, conceding two places. Sykes was wheel perfect in the early laps and it initially looked as though a repeat of race one was on the cards with the Yorkshireman streaking clear of Davies’ Ducati.
The picture began to change though as the race approach its halfway stage as Sykes started to struggle for pace, falling into the clutches of the pack behind. Davies made short work of the Yorkshireman on lap eleven, outdragging him on the approach to turn two, while the factory Aprilia riders overtook the no.66 in consecutive corners, Torres and Haslam overtaking at either end of the back straight.
Before long, the Kawasakis languished in fifth and sixth with Michael van der Mark and Rea both breezing past a struggling Sykes but any hopes of a double Dutch podium disappeared on lap sixteen as van der Mark lost control of his PATA Honda under braking for turn nine.
With the front of the race all to himself, Davies took his fifth win of the season from the Aprilia teammates with Torres resisting a last corner lunge from Haslam to claim second, a career best in World Superbikes. Rea took a quiet fourth ahead of Sykes while Matteo Baiocco won an all-Ducati battle for sixth with Michele Pirro. Leon Camier finished a fine eighth for MV Agusta, beating outgoing champion Sylvain Guintoli, with Leandro Mercado rounding out the top ten.
