Chaz Davies put his crash from yesterday behind him to take a stunning first win of the 2017 season after a hard-fought battle with Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea.
Coming from the fourth row on the grid and not feeling totally happy with his Ducati, Davies’ prospects for Sunday’s second outing were not all that positive.
Indeed, in the opening half of the race, the Welshman struggled to make any impression on the lead battle, whilst Rea had scythed his way into first ahead of pole man Alex Lowes by the fourth lap.
Unlike race one, however, Rea was unable to pull the pin and had Lowes, Marco Melandri, Michael van der Mark and Davies close behind, with Ioda Aprilia’s Tati Mercado not too far off either.
Davies finally started to march through on the eighth lap, sliding up the inside of van der Mark and catching the Dutch rider’s Yamaha team-mate Lowes at the end of the lap to take third, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process with a 1m50.977s.
Lowes valiantly latched onto the top three, but his challenge for a maiden Yamaha podium faded when he outbraked himself into Turn 14 and ran on. At the front, Davies had passed team-mate Melandri.
As on Saturday, Davies and Rea locked horns once again, the Ducati rider making the first of several hard moves with six laps left.
As the pair started their final lap, Davies had a huge moment into Turn 5 and almost once again threw away the race. But he didn’t let this deter him, and he carved his around the outside of the Kawasaki rider two turns later.
Rea tried one last move into the second part of the Turn 14 chicane, but Davies immediately struck back, the pair swapping paint as they got on the gas. Rea lost too much momentum, and Davies safely navigated the final two corners to take his 21st World Superbike win.
Melandri dropped off the pace towards the end following a huge wobble on the change of direction at Turn 13 late on, but still notched up another podium in third. Tom Sykes battled through a sickness bug to pip van der Mark to fourth.
Xavi Fores finished a brilliant sixth despite suffering burns to his arm and neck when his Panigale burst into flames in race one. The Spaniard led home Jordi Torres, Mercado, Eugene Laverty and MV Agusta’s Leon Camier.
Roman Ramos fended off Honda’s Stefan Bradl for 11th, whilst Lowes recovered to 13th after his off. Randy Krummenacher and WorldSBK rookie Julian Simon completed the points, with Markus Reiterberger and Ayrton Badovini narrowly missing out.
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