Jonathan Rea took his fifth win in succession in the 2017 World Superbike season after a titanic tussle with Ducati’s Chaz Davies, which ended with the Welshman in the gravel trap.
Aragon has been billed as a pivotal round for Davies to get his championship challenge back on track, as he is the most decorated rider at the Spanish track in WorldSBK.
Qualifying on pole put him on course for more success, and he managed to get his Panigale off the line well to lead Rea, though only for a few corners as the Northern Irishman pounced at Turn 8.
But the drive grip and the speed of the Ducati proved to be a race-long headache for Rea, Davies retaking the lead at the end of the first lap into the final corner. The pair swapped position regularly over the next 18 laps, Rea using the ZX-10R’s superior agility to keep in the hunt as Davie streaked away in the longer corners.
As the race wound down, the intensity of their battle ramped up, the duo chopping and changing all the way through the first sector on the third lap from the flag.
Davies held sway as they begun the penultimate lap, and crucially was keeping Rea behind down the one kilometre back straight. However, Davies’ title aspirations took a substantial blow when he tucked the front at the penultimate turn.
Twitter: 2 LAPS LEFT @chazdavies7 took the lead again by overtaking @jonathanrea but CRASHED
and left everybody absolutely… https://t.co/igUzIW91Ac (@WorldSBK)
Lucky to walk away unscathed after taking a fast trip across the gravel with his leg stuck under his Panigale, he was powerless to stop Rea cruising to a maiden Aragon win, a 47-point championship lead and the 200th SBK win for a British rider.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Aruba.it team, as Marco Melandri took the chequered flag in second after an early dust up with the sister KRT bike of Tom Sykes, who has been suffering with a sickness bug this weekend.
Alex Lowes brushed off a heavy fall in FP3 and an engine blow up in Superpole to finish ahead of Yamaha team-mate Michael van der Mark for fourth, which will see him start from pole tomorrow. Althea BMW’s Jordi Torres completed the top six.
IodaRacing Aprilia’sTati Mercado finished his first race of the year a very respectable seventh, five seconds clear on the far more advanced Milwaukee RSV4 of Eugene Laverty. The Honda duo of Stefan Bradl and Nicky Hayden rounded out the top 10.
Leon Camier made the most of a difficult race to finish a decent 11th on the MV Agusta, with Markus Reierberger six seconds adrift. Julian Simon scored points on his WorldSBK debut in 13th, with Randy Krummenacher and Alex De Angelis taking the last of the points positions.
Barni’s Xavi Fores fell off in the early stages whilst running close to the podium battle. He joined Roman Ramos and Ayrton Badovini on the sidelines, both suffering mechanical issues.
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