Kawasaki Racing’s Jonathan Rea narrowly beat Ducati’s Chaz Davies to draw first blood in the 2017 World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island.
The reigning champion started from pole position alongside KRT team-mate Tom Sykes, but both fell behind the fast-starting Ducati duo of Marco Melandri and Davies, as well as the Yamaha of Alex Lowes.
The action was fast and furious, with Rea, Sykes, Melandri, Davies, Lowes, Barni Racing’s Xavi Fores and MV Agusta’s Leon Camier chopping and changing position constantly over the opening 10 laps.
But with uncertainty over the longevity of Pirelli’s latest compounds in the hotter conditions, Rea tried to make a break mid-race and pulled out his advantage to over six tenths after passing Davies at the Southern Loop several laps prior.
Despite his best efforts, Rea was steadily reeled in by a determined Lowes and the intense multi-rider battle resumed as the race entered its home stretch.
With four laps left, Rea and Davies despatched of Lowes, with Sykes following suit several corners later. But the Yorkshireman’s stint at the head of the pack on on lap 17 had chewed through his rubber, and he could do nothing to catch the leaders on the final laps.
Davies went for a move on Rea into the first turn on the penultimate lap, but the Kawasaki rider ducked back underneath him immediately and the Ducati rider failed to find another route back through over the course of the final lap.
Rea held on by just 0.042s on the run to the line, with Sykes only just keeping ahead of tomorrow’s pole man Lowes in third. Camier, who lost all of Friday to a technical issue, completed the top five and will line up alongside his compatriot on Sunday.
Fores, despite a crash in qualifying leaving him down in eighth, fought in the leading bunch for much of the 22-lap scrap and took the flag in sixth. Jordi Torres guided his Althea BMW to seventh, with the first of the Aprilia’s in eighth courtesy of Euegen Laverty.
Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark was ninth, while WorldSBK debutante Randy Krummenacher impressively rounded out the top 10 on his Puccetti Kawasaki.
Nicky Hayden ran inside the top 10 in the early stages of the race on the new Honda, but dropped to 11th as the laps counted down. Markus Reiterberger, Roman Ramos, Alex De Angelis and Hayden’s team-mate Stefan Bradl took the remaining points.
Ducati’s Melandri’s excellent run at the front of the pack came to an unceremonious end on lap 15 when he ran wide at Turn 2 whilst fighting with Lowes and crashed. He joined Josh Brookes and Lorenzo Savadori on the sidelines.
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