Chaz Davies claimed his second victory of the 2017 World Superbike season after totally dominating race one at Imola on Saturday. The Ducati rider was over six seconds clear of Jonathan Rea before the race was cut short by a red flag, thrown due to a horrendous accident involving Eugene Laverty who fortunately escaped injury.
Last season, Imola played host to one of Ducati’s strongest rounds and the Superpole session seemed to indicate the Panigale was the bike to beat again, Davies taking a rare pole position ahead of Tom Sykes and Rea. The Welshman wasn’t touched off the start line either, storming into Tamburello ahead of his team-mate Marco Melandri, climbing from fifth to second.
Davies duly eased off into the distance while Melandri came under pressure from the two factory Kawasakis. The pressure eventually told on lap five with the world champion diving up the inside into the Variante Alta chicane, while Marco soon had the second ZX-10R of Sykes for company.
Fortunately for the Italian, his place on the podium was secured by the early stoppage as Alex Lowes tangled with Eugene Laverty on the approach to Rivazza, the contact leaving Eugene’s Aprilia with no brakes. Wisely, the Irishman jumped from his machine which careered into the concrete wall before bursting into flames and the resultant debris forced race direction to halt proceedings.
As a result, Davies took victory from Rea and Melandri while Tom Sykes had to settle for fourth, although he did secure the consolation prize of race two pole position. Xavi Fores was fifth ahead of Leon Camier’s MV Agusta while the Yamahas of Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes were classified seventh and eighth. Roman Ramos took ninth with Stefan Bradl the only Honda to see the chequered flag in tenth.
WorldSBK 2017: Italian Round – Race Two Result
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