Ducati’s Chaz DaviesWhen we wrote our preview for round nine of the 2015 World Superbike Championship at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, we asked the question – can anyone stop Jonathan Rea?The Northern Irishman had won 11 of 16 races, and entered Laguna Seca SBK with a 133-point lead over teammate Tom Sykes. Rea had never won at Laguna Seca, and this stat remains following Sunday’s double header, which had a carbon-copy podium.
Rea earned third in both races, allowing him to keep the championship points lead. In both races, Rea finished just behind the 2013 World Superbike Champion Sykes aboard the other ZX-10R Ninja. The winner? Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Team’s Chaz Davies, who earned both victories by over a second.The Welshman was dominate at Laguna Seca SBK 2015 from the outset, leading Friday’s practice and earning his debut Superpole win. He carried this momentum into Sunday’s double header, earning his first double win, which was also Ducati’s first double of 2015 SBK. Davies’ wins aboard the 1199 Panigale R also allowed Ducati to keep its record for most wins at Laguna Seca; Ducati now has 11 victories at the Californian track that has hosted WSBK for 13 years.Kawasaki Racing duo Sykes and ReaWith his Laguna Seca 2015 win, Davies moves to third in the standings with 263 points, 19 behind Sykes, and 144 behind Rea. Only four rounds remain with a possible 200 points.“I’m really, really happy with these results, and we’ve definitely seen the fruits of our labour here. The track here perhaps limits our weak points and plays to our strengths, and we were able to put together two really good races that went almost exactly to plan. I didn’t think we’d be able to lap in 1.23s but I was able to make some really quick first laps in Race 1, pushing hard for the first twelve or so and then it was all about gap management,” Davies says.“We made a few small tweaks for race 2 and I think those changes were useful. I took a lot of risks with the rain, and was very worried about crashing but luckily the rain stopped and things went smoothly from there to the finish line. I thank my entire team, Ducati and our sponsors – it’s been a really solid weekend, and a lot better than last year’s outcome of course.”Following are the official race recaps of Laguna Seca SBK 2015 Results.
Laguna Seca SBK 2015 Results, Race 1 Recap:
A wet warm up saw the riders take to the track for the first time with Rea fastest in the tricky conditions but thankfully by the time race 1 was scheduled to start the sun was shining and the track had dried.Davies made the perfect start, taking the hole shot before opening up a 1.6 sdconds lead at the end of lap 5. Despite the Kawasaki pairing of Sykes and Rea giving chase they were unable to reel in the Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider who romped to the victory, his sixth WorldSBK win and the second for the Panigale machine, the other arriving at Aragon race 2.At the flag and after a tense, race long duel second and third went to Sykes and Rea, the pair pushing each other to limit throughout.Davide Giugiano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) finished a lonely fourth after regrouping from a poor start, the Italian who started on the front row eventually getting the better of Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) who rode a solid race to 5th.Aprilia’s Torres and HaslamAlex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) inherited 6th after Leon Haslam slid out of contention, while reigning champion Sylvain Guintoli powered the Pata Honda to seventh ahead of his team mate and reigning World Supersport champion Michael van der Mark.Leandro Mercado impressed to 9th aboard the Barni Racing Ducati, the Argentine rider recovering from a huge crash earlier in the weekend.Tenth place after 25 enthralling laps went to Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), with Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Roman Ramos (Team Go Eleven) completing the top 12.Leon Haslam scored 3 points for 13th after nursing the Aprilia to the finish after rejoining ahead of the youngest rider in the field Christophe Ponsson (Team Pedercini) who was 14th.Gianluca Vizziello (Grillini Racing) scored his first WorldSBK with a 15th place finish.Althea Racing had a difficult race with Niccolo Canepa suffering a technical problem at turn two on the opening lap. His team mate Matteo Baiocco had an incident at the start before crashing half way around the opening lap at the corkscrew.
Laguna Seca SBK 2015 Results, Race 2 Recap:
Once again leading from the start Davies tried to make but unlike race one he was closely followed in the early stages by the Kawasaki Racing Team pairing of Sykes and Rea with Aprilia’s Haslam running strongly in 4th.Behind Davies by 1.406 seconds at the flag was Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea, the podium in race 2 being a carbon copy of the first encounter.Aprilia’s Torres and Haslam were fourth and fifth respectively after a 25 lap duel. They finished comfortably ahead of Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) who had a lonely ride to 6th after failing to finish race 1.Ducati’s Chaz DaviesMichael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) got the better of Ducati’s Canepa in their personal on track fight for seventh with Ducati’s Mercado once again ninth ahead of MV Agusta’s Camier.The remaining point scorers were Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), Roman Ramos (Team Go Eleven), Matteo Baiocco (Althea Racing), Gianluca Vizziello (Grillini Racing) and Christophe Ponsson (Team Pedercini).Drops of rain began to fall at the start of lap 2 claiming Giugliano and reigning champion Guintoli, the pair crashing out with Giugliano taken to the medical centre for checks. Guintoli made it back to the garage.The next round of the eni FIM Superbike World takes place in Sepang, Malaysia in two weeks.Photos by Ara AshjianLaguna Seca SBK 2015 Race 1 Results
1
Chaz Davies
35’15.693
GBR
DUCATI
Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
2
Tom Sykes
1.798
GBR
KAWASAKI
Kawasaki Racing Team
3
Jonathan Rea
2.107
GBR
KAWASAKI
Kawasaki Racing Team
4
Davide Giugliano
15.954
ITA
DUCATI
Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
5
Jordi Torres
19.661
ESP
APRILIA
Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils
6
Alex Lowes
24.431
GBR
SUZUKI
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
7
Sylvain Guintoli
26.971
FRA
HONDA
Pata Honda
8
Michael van der Mark
35.428
NED
HONDA
Pata Honda
9
Leandro Mercado
41.261
DUCATI
BARNI Racing Team
10
Leon Camier
44.383
GBR
MV AGUSTA
MV Agusta Repart Corse
11
Randy de Puniet
52.748
FRA
SUZUKI
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
12
Roman Ramos
54.906
ESP
KAWASAKI
Team Go Eleven
13
Leon Haslam
1’18.150
GBR
APRILIA
Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils
14
Christophe Ponsson
1’20.220
KAWASAKI
Grillini SBK Team
15
Gianluca Vizziello
1 Lap
ITA
KAWASAKI
Grillini SBK Team
16
Imre Toth
1 Lap
HUN
BMW
BMW Team Toth
17
David Salom
DNF
ESP
KAWASAKI
Team Pedercini
18
Santiago Barragan
DNF
KAWASAKI
Grillini SBK Team
19
Gabor Rizmayer
DNF
HUN
BMW
BMW Team Toth
20
Ayrton Badovini
DNF
ITA
BMW
JR Racing Team
21
Matteo Baiocco
DNF
DUCATI
Althea Racing
22
Niccolo Canepa
DNF
ITA
KAWASAKI
Grillini SBK Team
Laguna Seca SBK 2015 Race 2 Results
1
Chaz Davies
35’13.816
GBR
DUCATI
Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
2
Tom Sykes
1.406
GBR
KAWASAKI
Kawasaki Racing Team
3
Jonathan Rea
1.982
GBR
KAWASAKI
Kawasaki Racing Team
4
Jordi Torres
16.551
ESP
APRILIA
Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils
5
Leon Haslam
17.772
GBR
APRILIA
Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils
6
Ayrton Badovini
31.735
ITA
BMW
JR Racing Team
7
Michael van der Mark
34.446
NED
HONDA
Pata Honda
8
Niccolo Canepa
38.048
ITA
KAWASAKI
Grillini SBK Team
9
Leandro Mercado
41.755
DUCATI
BARNI Racing Team
10
Leon Camier
49.105
GBR
MV AGUSTA
MV Agusta Repart Corse
11
Randy de Puniet
56.249
FRA
SUZUKI
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
12
Roman Ramos
1’01.630
ESP
KAWASAKI
Team Go Eleven
13
Matteo Baiocco
1’12.647
DUCATI
Althea Racing
14
Gianluca Vizziello
1 Lap
ITA
KAWASAKI
Grillini SBK Team
15
Christophe Ponsson
1 Lap
KAWASAKI
Grillini SBK Team
16
Gabor Rizmayer
1 Lap
HUN
BMW
BMW Team Toth
17
Imre Toth
2 Laps
HUN
BMW
BMW Team Toth
18
Santiago Barragan
3 Laps
KAWASAKI
Grillini SBK Team
19
Alex Lowes
DNF
GBR
SUZUKI
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
20
David Salom
DNF
ESP
KAWASAKI
Team Pedercini
21
Davide Giugliano
DNF
ITA
DUCATI
Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
22
Sylvain Guintoli
DNF
FRA
HONDA
Pata Honda
2015 World Superbike Point Standings (after nine of 13 rounds):
