2016 WSBK Phillip Island Race 2 Results and Summary
WSBK Race 2 got off to a great start under a bright sun and no fear of rain.
Pole position holder Tom Sykes, got the hole-shot and headed into the first corner leading the race. Jonathan Rea and Davide Giugliano followed close behind as the rest of the pack was nipping at their heels. Michael Van Der Mark soon passed the Italian for third spot, with Chaz Davies once again making a brilliant start from 9th place. Alex Lowes on the Yamaha was followed by Nicky Hayden.
Lowes had a moment and went off track, while Hayden had a gap to make up to the front. The Kentucky Kid did and dragged Sylvain Guintoli on the other Yamaha along with him. As things settled at the front, the American made a move on the inside of Giugliano at T1, but the Italian fought back immediately and took back the spot. Hayden made another attempt, but the Italian once again held firm with a hard but fair move.
Sykes was leading a race which looked like a procession for a considerable time, till he made a mistake into braking for T4 on lap 12, overshooting the corner allowing Rea, Davies, and Van Der Mark to come through without a problem. The Dutchman then pushed to the front of the group to lead the race, but as was evident from the pace being set by the Kawasakis before and after, he was about a second slower. This allowed Hayden and Guintoli to once again close in on the leading group after having lost touch.
The ever aggressive Italian made out braked himself and clipped the rear wheel of Sykes, throwing them both off the racing line and allowing both Hayden and Guintoli through. Hayden then set about closing the gap to the leading trio as his teammate was holding up the group at the front. Rea made attempts along the Gardner Straight to slipstream past the Honda, but was unsuccessful for 3 laps before he made it stick on the 4th attempt, dragging Davies on the Ducati along with him.
Chaz Davies remembered Race 1 and didn’t wait for the last lap to make a move. Instead on the penultimate lap, Davies pushed Rea wide at T4 to take the lead and stretch out a gap. But the gap wasn’t big enough as Rea blasted past him down the main straight. The Welshman didn’t want to suffer a case of Deja Vu and made a last lap attempt on the brakes. Unfortunately he couldn’t hold on and slipped off the track with his Ducati. That allowed Rea enough room to comfortably cross the line in first place to take his second win of the season and the first double win of the year!
WSBK Champion Jonathan Rea laid down the gauntlet by convincingly winning the Phillip Island rounds, while title challenger Chaz Davies managed to rejoin and finish the race in 10th place. Michael Van Der Mark took second spot for Honda and it looked like a double podium for Honda, but Davide Giugliano pipped Nicky Hayden to the line with a daring pass characteristic of the Italian in the penultimate corner. Guintoli took 5th place for Yamaha in their debut round, while early laps leader Sykes finished the race in 6th, 3.320 seconds behind his teammate and race winner. Behind them the battle of the BMWs which continued throughout the race was won by Jordi Torres, followed by Markus Reiterberger and Josh Brookes. Davies took 10th spot after his crash on the last lap, while Karel Abraham took a credible 11th.
The WSBK circus will now move on towards Thailand for the next round!
