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Australia

Aragon WSBK: Rea wins, Davies crashes from the lead

Defending World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea took his fifth win of 2017 in Race 1 at Aragon, after a race-long duel with Chaz Davies ended with the Welshman crashing out.

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Podium: race winner Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Race winner Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Marco Melandri, Ducati Team
Marco Melandri, Ducati Team
Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing
Michael van der Mark, Pata Yamaha
Jordi Torres, Althea BMW Racing
Podium: race winner Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing, second place Marco Melandri, Ducati Team, third place Tom Sykes, Kawasaki Racing
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing, Chaz Davies, Ducati Team
Chaz Davies, Ducati Team, Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Chaz Davies, Ducati Team, Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing

Despite having to skip one of the free practice sessions due to a mechanical failure, Davies became the first rider to beat Rea in qualifying this season, having edged him out in Superpole 2 by half a tenth.

Davies gave up the lead temporarily during the opening lap of the race, but it was the Ducati rider starting Lap 2 in first place.

However, he was unable to pull away, as Rea spent several laps right behind him before finally making a move on Lap 7.

Once again, Davies managed to fight back, moving past the Northern Irishman at Turn 1.

Rea continued to put pressure on Davies, forcing the latter to brake late several times in order to defend.

The Kawasaki rider finally outmanoeuvred Davies with three laps to go, and, even though Davies forced his way back into the lead, he ended up crashing on the penultimate lap and retiring.

Rea cruised through the final lap of the race and won by four seconds.

Marco Melandri (Ducati) recorded his best finish of the season in second, as neither he nor Kawasaki's Tom Sykes could keep up with their respective teammates.

Sykes was best of the rest initially before being passed by Melandri.

The Briton was also challenged by Xavi Fores (Barni Ducati), but the latter ended up crashing out.

He rejoined the race after his incident, but his bike caught on fire, forcing him to retire for good.

Sykes was not under pressure by anyone else as he completed the podium, followed by Yamaha duo Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark.

Lowes was unable to take part in Superpole 2 due to a mechanical failure and was forced to start 12th, but completed a strong recovery to beat his teammate by more than two seconds.

Local rider Jordi Torres (Althea BMW) secured sixth ahead of Ioda Aprilia man Leandro Mercado, who took part in his first WSBK race of the season.

Mercado beat fellow Aprilia rider Eugene Laverty, who spent the race fighting with the Honda duo of Stefan Bradl and Nicky Hayden.

WSBK debutant Julian Simon (Aprilia Milwaukee), who replaced the injured Lorenzo Savadori, took 13th.

Race 1 result

 BikeLapsGap
1 united_kingdom Jonathan Rea  Kawasaki - 25
2 italy Marco Melandri  Ducati 4.058 20
3 united_kingdom Tom Sykes  Kawasaki 7.512 16
4 united_kingdom Alex Lowes  Yamaha 9.962 13
5 netherlands Michael van der Mark  Yamaha 12.302 11
6 spain Jordi Torres  BMW 18.995 10
7 argentina Leandro Mercado  Aprilia 21.545 9
8 ireland Eugene Laverty  Aprilia 27.309 8
9 germany Stefan Bradl  Honda 27.488 7
10 united_states Nicky Hayden  Honda 27.663 6
11 united_kingdom Leon Camier  MV Agusta 35.409 5
12 germany Markus Reiterberger  BMW 41.558 4
13 spain Julian Simon  Aprilia 44.006 3
14 switzerland Randy Krummenacher  Kawasaki 44.482 2
15 san_marino Alex de Angelis  Kawasaki 45.915 1
16 italy Riccardo Russo  Yamaha > 1'  
  united_kingdom Chaz Davies  Ducati    
  spain Xavi Forés  Ducati    
  spain Roman Ramos  Kawasaki    
  italy Ayrton Badovini  Kawasaki    

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Edition

Australia