Rea Defeats Davies to Claim Imola Double

Jonathan Rea struck another sizable blow in the race for the 2018 WorldSBK championship after beating title rival Chaz Davies to victory in race two. The reigning champion caught and passed the Ducati to take victory, despite starting eight places behind, and has now equalled the legendary Carl Fogarty’s record for most race victories in WorldSBK history.

Davies had the pre-race advantage, starting from pole position as a result of finishing fourth yesterday, but the Welshman was unable to convert that into an early lead as Michael Ruben Rinaldi made the early running on the Aruba Junior Team bike. Once the rookie had been dispensed with, Rea had already wiped out the early deficit, setting the stage for another head-to-head between the two.

On lap ten, the gloves finally came off with Rea hitting the front at Tamburello, only to leave the door open for Davies to sneak back through, while a subsequent move into Tosa resulting in contact as the Ducati rider barged the Kawasaki aside. On lap thirteen though, Chaz was forced to give way to the inevitable as Rea outbraked him into Variante Alta before streaking off into the distance.

Tom Sykes came on strong in the closing stages to snatch third from Xavi Fores while a collision between Michael van der Mark and Marco Melandri promoted the excellent Jordi Torres to fifth for MV Agusta. Alex Lowes salvaged sixth for Yamaha after Rinaldi faded to seventh while Toprak Razgatlioglu, Eugene Laverty and Leandro Mercado rounded out the top ten.

WorldSBK 2018: PATA Italian Round: Race Two