Buriram, Thailand – The works Kawasaki pair of defending champion Jonathan Rea and former title-holder Tom Sykes fought it out between themselves for line honours at the Chang circuit in Round 2 of the 2016 World Superbike series.
Only Ducati Team rider Chaz Davies was able to match their pace – and then only in Race 2 after battling his own team-mate throughout the first race on Saturday.
RACE 1
SuperPole winner Michael van der Mark got a poor start on the works Honda as the two Kawasakis leapt into the lead off the front row of the grid. Sykes seemed to be getting the better of it, however, with the world champion pushing very hard indeed to keep the pressure on his team-mate and surviving a few lurid moments in the early stages.
Van der Mark worked his way back up to within striking distance of Rea before he too was lucky to save a very big wobble and dropped back to finish a lonely third, while his team-mate, former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden, went out with a technical problem on lap 11v .
Rea then settled down to the job of reeling in his team-mate, stalking him for most of the race and finally blitzing him with four laps to go. Even then Sykes had plenty of pace in hand and hung in to finish less than a quarter of a second adrift.
The Ducati duo of Davies and Davide Giugliano put up a superb dice for fourth, swopping places a number of times until Giugliano, who had never raced at this circuit before, lowsided out on lap 17, gifting his team-mate a creditable fourth.
Markus Reiterberger had a great rookie ride into fifth aboard the works-supported Althea BMW, ahead of the experienced Sam Lowes and Sylvain Guintoli on the factory Yamaha R1s, after each had recovered from some hairy moments earlier in the race.
Reiterberger’s Althea BMW team-mate Jordo Torres finished eight, three seconds clear of Aprilia’s new signing, Alex de Angelis and Lorenzo Savadori, who rounded out the top 10.
RACE 2
As before, Sykes and Rea got the best of the start – although Davies and Van der Mark made it easier for them by colliding on lap 1, losing a lot of ground while the two Green Meanies made it a two-horse race.
Neither was ready to give up, and they spent most of the race chasing down the leaders – with Van der Mark leading until lap 10, at which point Davies pulled the pin, pushed past the Honda rider and within three laps was all over the Kawasakis like a rash, setting up a dramatic finale.
The last seven laps provided some of the closest racing of the past few years as Davies, Sykes and Rea swopped places on almost every lap – but it was Sykes who led Rea and Davies across the line when it counted, as all three finished within 0.314sec.
Van der Mark finished off the podium for the first time in 2016, well ahead of team-mate Hayden in fifth, with Guintoli, Reiterberger, Torres, Savadori and Giuglianio rounding out the top 10
WORLD SUPERSPORTS
Jules Cluzel won the 600cc race after a race-long four way dice with reigning champion Kenan Sofuoglu, Honda’s PJ Jacobsen and Sofuoglu’s Kawasaki team-mate, ex-Grand Prix rider Randy Krummenacher.
It was the MV Agusta rider’s 11th career victory and his first since being sidelined through injury for the second half of 2015.
Jacobsen took the early lead, building up an advantage of more than a second in the initial stages. With twelve laps to go, however, Cluzel began to eat his lead and was soon looking for a way past the Honda rider. Two laps later, Cluzel Sofuoglu and Krummenacher caught up and it was ‘game on’ for the final nine laps.
With a lap and a half to go, Cluzel made a move on Jacobsen for the lead; when Sofuoglu attempted to follow Cluzel through, he and Jacobsen banged elbows as the three riders went through Turn 6 side by side.
The gave Cluzel just enough of an advantage to take the win by 0.812sc from Sofuoglu, Jacobsen and Krummenacher, with Honda privateer Kyle Smith fifth ahead of Alex Baldolini (MV Agusta), World Supersport rookie Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Kawasaki), Cluzel’s team-mate Lorenzo Zanetti, Gino Rea (MV Agusta) and Kawasaki privateer Ondrej Jezek.