PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
SEPANG, MALAYSIA, AUG. 2—Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea took his 12th race win of the 2015 season after teammate Tom Sykes and then Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Chaz Davies first led a dramatic 16-lap race at Sepang.
Davies would finish second but Sykes was only to finish fifth.
The remarkable Max Biaggi on the factory Aprilia used all his years of experience to take an unexpected podium, albeit 10 seconds down on Rea.
After a start from pole position Sykes scorched away to set a new lap record of 2:03.654 on lap two, more than one second better than the previous best, set on 2014 by a full power Aprilia and Marco Melandri.
Still inside the 2:04s by lap seven, when all the other top competitors were into the 2:05s, Sykes piled on his joy and their misery lap after lap to make a 3.2 second lead.
It was not to last, and emphatically so.
With Rea—starting from the third row at the beginning—lining up Davies on lap 10, the battle for second was intense and absorbing, but allowed Sykes to keep his three second advantage for a time, slowly reduced as he started to set laps in the high 2:05s.
Aprilia Racing Team Red Devils’ Jordi Torres was winning the war of the three Aprilias at the beginning, three seconds up on Biaggi, but eventually teammate Leon Haslam was also struggling to keep pace with the Italian rider.
A hard drop in pace from the Spaniard saw him get behind his chasing RSV-4RF riders, with some of his laps suddenly into the 2:10 sector.
At the same time Sykes started to slow dramatically and a 2:06.613 from him allowed Davies and Rea to get within 1.7 with five laps to go and one lap later see Davies overtake to lead.
Rea almost lost his win when he ran wide on the final corner but he ducked inside Davies again and won by only .121 of a second.
Sykes was into the 2:10s and finally setting a 2:15 lap on the last time around, allowing Pata Honda’s Sylvain Guintoli to score fourth place.
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Alex Lowes was sixth and Haslam seventh. Behind Haslam was a pair of Althea Racing Ducatis—Matteo Baiocco and Niccolo Canepa. Rounding out the top 10 was Torres.
2015 World Superbike
Sepang Race One Results
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki)
2. Chaz Davies (Ducati)
3. Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
4. Sylvain Guintoli (Honda)
5. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki)
6. Alex Lowes (Suzuki)
7. Leon Haslam (Aprilia)
8. Matteo Baiocco (Ducati)
9. Niccolo Canepa (Ducati)
10. Jordi Torres (Aprilia)
