Race One at Donington was a two-man fight between KRT teammates Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea, in what was an occasionally over-aggressive battle for supremacy that kept the crowd’s attention for most of the 23 laps. Even after Sykes had made his decisive move ahead with a handful of laps remaining, many expected Rea to come back, but this time he had no answer for his teammate.
It was Sykes’ fifth consecutive win at Donington and the former World champ was quite happy to finally get that first win in 2015.
“It’s a refreshing change… [after] struggling in the early part of the season,” Sykes said. “The bike is almost acceptable for me over race distance. Still not perfect, but we’ll keep working.
“Overall we had a good pace. I was able to make a pass and try and try and get my head down. Great race, great battle for Kawasaki Race Team. We need to try and improve for race two and see what the weather does.”
Third place went to Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Chaz Davies taking the final podium spot from Red Devils Aprilia Racing Team’s Leon Haslam, who had been third for much of the race.
Ayrton Badovini was the first non-British rider, fifth on his BMW Motorrad Italia S1000RR, after passing Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Alex Lowes. Lowes was sixth, albeit 20 seconds from first place.
First time Donington rider Jordi Torres on the other Red Devils Aprilia Racing Team machine placed seventh ahead of Pata Honda rider Sylvain Guintoli.
MV Agusta Reparto Corse’s Leon Camier rebounded from a bad start and a mid-race drop in pace to finish ninth, with Kawasaki Team Pedercini’s David Salom 10th.
2015 Donington World Superbike Race One Results
1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki)
3. Chaz Davies (Ducati)
4. Leon Haslam (Aprilia)
5. Ayrton Badovini (BMW)
6. Alex Lowes (Suzuki)
7. Jordi Torres (Aprilia)
8. Sylvain Guintoli (Honda)
9. Leon Camier (MV Agusta)
10. David Salom (Kawasaki)
