Tom Sykes has moved into the lead of the 2014 Superbike World Championship after completing a double victory at Aragon. Unlike in race one, the defending champion didn’t have it all his own way with Loris Baz and Marco Melandri chasing him to the finish but the Yorkshireman was wheel perfect despite intense pressure from behind.
The Kawasaki teammates established an early lead but they were reeled in shortly after half distance by Melandri, motivated by the disappointment of race one. With race victory and the championship lead up for grabs, Baz wasn’t prepared to follow his teammate home and three laps from the finish, dived up the inside at turn sixteen. The move backfired for the Frenchman who not only failed in his bid to pass Sykes but also surrendered second to Melandri.
On the final lap, roles were reversed with Marco now setting his sights on race victory. The Aprilia appeared to be too far back approaching the final hairpin but that didn’t stop Melandri making a move on the brakes, sending his RSV4 up the inside of Sykes’ Kawasaki. Predictably, the manoeuvre was unsuccessful and Tom rode on to his second victory of the day with Sykes regaining second to complete a perfect weekend for Kawasaki.
Sylvain Guintoli came home a lonely fourth to lose his share of the championship lead with Jonathan Rea and Eugene Laverty backing up their strong results in the first race with fifth and sixth in the second. Davide Giugliano was seventh for Ducati ahead of Leon Haslam and Toni Elias while David Salom completed the top ten, winning the EVO class in the process.
