2015 Donington SBK Results
The first year that Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes earned wins before his home crowd at Donington Park was in 2013 – the same year he earned his debut World Superbike title.
The Ninja ZX-10R pilot followed that performance up in 2014 with another double at Donington. But he wasn’t finished impressing; during round six of the 2015 World SBK Championship at Donington Sunday, Sykes earned the double once again.
He has now won the past-six consecutive races held at Donington, and equaled the record of six wins at the British Superbike track with Carl Fogerty.
Sykes began his perfect weekend with a Superpole win, followed up with the double win and a new lap record of 1:27.640 in race two. Sykes has now garnered 24 career SBK wins.
Earning second in both races was Sykes’ teammate, Jonathan Rea, who has scored eight wins and four second-places so far this season to remain on top of the points. Finishing third in both races was Aruba.it Racing Ducati Team’s Chaz Davies, who earned a single win at Aragon and finished runner-up three times.
“A full set this weekend – two race wins, pole position and a new lap record. After some battles in race one I had a clean start in race two and I went a little bit faster down Craner and into the Old Hairpin to stop any passes, and away we went. The bike was really nice and I made some 1:27s in the beginning,” Sykes says.
“When I saw that the gap was increasing I just had to be careful in how to manage the race. I was really happy with the race performance because Marcel my crew chief and all the boys have been working really well. It is good to win all the last six races here at Donington but there is no real reason why. We are getting there now and I am able to do a little bit more of what I want to with the bike, and it showing.”
After six of 13 rounds, Rea holds a dominate lead as he chases his first SBK title; the Northern Irishman has 280 points, 101 ahead of Aprilia Racing Team’s Leon Haslam, and 102 ahead of Sykes. The series continues June 7 at Portimao in Portugal.
Following are the official 2015 Donginton World SBK race recaps.
2015 Donington SBK Results, Race One Recap:
Sykes has won the opening 23 lap WorldSBK race at Donington Park in dry but cold and overcast conditions after a race long fight with his KRT team mate Jonathan Rea. The pair swapped positions for virtually the whole race after getting the better of early leader Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils).
The final podium place went to Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) who also passed Haslam, who finished fourth, with six laps to go.
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) showed incredible pace in the closing stages to snatch 5th at the flag from Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) who was a solid sixth.
Jordi Torres (Apriilia Racing Team – Red Devils) finished seventh on his Donington race debut ahead of reigning champion Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and David Salom (Team Pedercini) who were 8th, 9th and 10th respectively.
The final point scorers were Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing), Nico Terol (Althea Racing), Roman Ramos (Team Go Eleven), Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), and Niccolo Canepa (Grillini SBK Team).
Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) crashed out early on while Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) made an unscheduled pit stop to change tyres, the Italian, who started on the front row finished 17th and out of the points.
2015 Donington SBK Results, Race Two Recap:
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) made it two wins from two starts as he dominated WorldSBK race 2 to equal Carl Fogarty’s six race wins. The former champion has now won every race at the 2.5 mile circuit for the last three years. He made it a clean sweep, adding the fastest lap in race two to the Tissot-Superpole that he secured yesterday, winning by over nine seconds.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) saved what could have been a huge crash as rounded Coppice Corner on lap two, the championship leader lucky not to fall. He regrouped with some great overtaking moves to salvage second ahead of Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) who finished third for the second time today.
Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) was fifth after being passed by Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) on the penultimate lap. The British rider overcoming the pain and discomfort of cracked ribs to finish fourth.
Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) claimed another strong 6th after running third in the early stages.
The top ten riders were rounded out by Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) and Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) who battled race long, as they had in the opening encounter. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) was in the top ten again in 9th with Matteo Baiocco (Althea Racing) 10th.
Roman Ramos (Team GO Eleven), David Salom (Team Pedercini), Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing), Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Santiago Barragan (Grillini SBK Team) were 11th to 15th respectively.
Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) crashed out of sixth at the Esses, while Nico Terol (Althea Racing) crashed out a potential 11th at the half way point. Both riders were unhurt.
2015 Donington World SBK Photo Gallery:
