Submitted by Jared Earle on
World Superbike race two in Germany and Stefan Bradl was declared fit to take part in the twenty one lap race.
Marco Melandri, pole position after the reversed grid was applied and fresh from signing up for another year with Ducati, led Xavi Fores and Lorenzo Savadori but from the third row, Jonathan Rea was charging through and he scythed through the field to third position by the end of the first lap and second by turn four of lap two. Chaz Davies tried to do the same, but was stuck behind Xavi Fores for a lap before he could take third place from him. Tom Sykes languished in sixth place, stuck behind a hard-to-pass Lorenzo Savadori in fifth place.
On lap four Chaz Davies set the lap record closing the gap to Marco Melandri and Jonathan Rea and a lap later, he set it again, only to see Rea had taken first place from Melandri.
As Rea, Melandri and Davies increased their gap from Xavi Fores and Lorenzo Savadori, Tom Sykes was unable to improve on sixth place.
Eight laps in, Chaz Davies, visibly faster in places than the men in front, took second place from the smaller and lighter Marco Melandri and latched onto the leader Jonathan Rea.
With the front three over six seconds clear from the fourth place battle, Lorenzo Savadori passed Xavi Fores and Tom Sykes followed him through a lap later with Leon Camier on his tail, but at the front, Chaz Davies, halfway through the race, found a clean pass to play and he took the lead from Jonathan Rea. A couple of laps later, Davies looked like he could eke a lead out, but six laps from the end, Rea closed the gap back up.
Tom Sykes eventually got past Lorenzo Savadori, with Leon Camier following him a few laps later, but the Kawasaki man was looking at a ten second gap to the podium battle.
Rea’s late charge ended with five laps to go as Davies just put the hammer down and peeled off a stack of 1’36 laps, breaking the riders behind him. Rain warnings then came out, just to dampen any chances of a change at the front and the riders started spreading out into their finishing places and, as the rain flags were put away, Chaz Davies stormed to a win, over two seconds ahead of Jonathan Rea who was over two seconds clear of Marco Melandri.
Tom Sykes was ten seconds further back in fourth place, followed by Alex Lowes who passed Leon Camier on the last lap for fifth place. Stefan Bradl finished in thirteenth place, four places behind German wildcard Marcus Reiterberger.
Jonathan Rea, with another second place, still extended his championship over Tom Sykes to seventy points, while Chaz Davies takes the double win and slicing twenty-one points off Tom Sykes lead, reducing the deficit to second place to just thirty-five points with eight races to go. Marco Melandri took the same number of points as Sykes for the weekend and remains stable in fourth place ahead of Alex Lowes.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Gap |
1 | 7 | C. DAVIES | Ducati Panigale R | |
2 | 1 | J. REA | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 2.290 |
3 | 33 | M. MELANDRI | Ducati Panigale R | 4.388 |
4 | 66 | T. SYKES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 14.167 |
5 | 22 | A. LOWES | Yamaha YZF R1 | 15.786 |
6 | 2 | L. CAMIER | MV Agusta 1000 F4 | 16.023 |
7 | 32 | L. SAVADORI | Aprilia RSV4 RF | 16.138 |
8 | 81 | J. TORRES | BMW S 1000 RR | 16.900 |
9 | 21 | M. REITERBERGER | BMW S 1000 RR | 20.355 |
10 | 12 | X. FORÉS | Ducati Panigale R | 24.066 |
11 | 60 | M. VAN DER MARK | Yamaha YZF R1 | 24.885 |
12 | 36 | L. MERCADO | Aprilia RSV4 RF | 35.566 |
13 | 6 | S. BRADL | Honda CBR1000RR | 36.772 |
14 | 40 | R. RAMOS | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 38.508 |
15 | 35 | R. DE ROSA | BMW S 1000 RR | 39.613 |
16 | 37 | O. JEZEK | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'00.744 |
17 | 34 | D. GIUGLIANO | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'01.401 |
18 | 86 | A. BADOVINI | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1'01.531 |
19 | 55 | M. ROCCOLI | Yamaha YZF R1 | 1'27.642 |
RET | 88 | R. KRUMMENACHER | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 6 Laps |
RET | 84 | R. RUSSO | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 6 Laps |
RET | 19 | P. SZKOPEK | Yamaha YZF R1 | 8 Laps |
RET | 50 | E. LAVERTY | Aprilia RSV4 RF | 13 Laps |