2016 Aragon World Superbike Results, Race 1 | Recap

2016 Aragon World SBK Results, Race 1

Perfect racing conditions welcomed the 25-rider World Superbike grid Saturday for race one of round three at Motorland Aragon in Spain.

All eyes were on the Kawasaki Racing Team duo of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes; heading into Aragon, Rea had three wins – a double at the Phillip Island SBK season opener and race one in Thailand SBK, and Sykes had the remaining win, race two in Thailand SBK.

The 2013 World Superbike Champion Sykes led one of three free practices, and Ducati Team’s Chaz Davies led the other two. But Sykes regained control of the Motorland Aragon Circuit during Superpole, earning the 32d pole of his World Superbike career. Joining him on the front row for qualifying were the Pata Yamaha pilots Sylvain Guintoli and Alex Lowes, respectively. As for the reigning World SBK Champion Rea, the Northern Irishman qualified fifth behind Davies.

Things looked promising for Sykes for the opening three of 18 laps, but with 15 to go the Brit was passed by Davies. From there, Davies led all the way to the finishing line, earning his first win of 2016 World Superbike, and his fourth at Aragon (two in 2013 with BMW; one in 2015 with Ducati).

And it was pure domination; the Welshman finished Aragon SBK Race one aboard his Ducati 1199R 4.168 seconds ahead of Rea. Sykes earned the final podium, 4.984 of a second behind.

Following Aragon Superbike, Chaz Davies said: “In the beginning it wasn’t easy to fight in the group, but I gradually managed to climb back through the field and take the lead. Then, I simply tried to establish my own rhythm, progressively building a gap.

“I’m very happy, we’ve made a clear step forward in terms of power, for which I want to thank Ducati for the constant efforts to push development forward. We’ve been close to winning a few times already this year, and now we need to stay on this course. We can still improve before Race Two tomorrow.”

When Aragon WSBK began, Sykes led from pole, followed by Guintoli and Rea. As Sykes And Guintoli opened a gap, the Ducati Team riders of Davies and Davide Giugliano began battling with Rea for third. Davies soon got the best of all, and began chasing down Sykes, passing him with 15 to go.

As Davies opened a gap, the Kawasaki ZX-10R Ninja pilots slotted in behind. Giugliano had some issues staying up front; the Italian fell back, eventually finishing fifth behind Barni Racing Team Ducati’s Xavier Fores.

Finishing sixth was the only American rider in World Superbike, Honda World SBK’s NickY Hayden, who was followed to the checkered flag by Althea BMW’s Jordi Torres in seventh and Yamaha’s Lowes, who was outside the top 10 when the race began.

Rounding out the top 10 were Guintoli and IodaRacing Team Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori.

Two notable riders that suffered DNFs were MV Agusta’s Leon Camier, who had technical issues aboard the F4RR, and Hayden’s teammate and World Supersport Champion Michael van der Mark, who crashed out with 15 laps remaining.

The grid returns to Aragon Sunday for race two at 1 p.m. local time. Ahead of Race 2, Rea has 115 points, 33 ahead of Sykes and 35 ahead of Davies.

2016 Aragon World SBK Results, Race 1:

2016 Aragon World Superbike Results, Race 1 Photo Gallery