Chaz Davies made it five wins out of six races as he cruised to an easy win in today’s World Superbike race at Jerez.

And with the Kawasaki Racing Team pairing of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes taking second and third places respectively, it means the championship battle will go down to the final round at Qatar in a fortnight.

As the race began, it was the Kawasaki of Sykes which got the best start, while the Aruba Ducatis of Davies and team-mate Davide Giugliano shot through and challenged for the lead into the first corner.

While Davies kept his momentum, his team-mate dropped right back in the next couple of corners but Davies could see the front and moved ahead of Sykes and into the lead at Turn Six.

Behind, Rea had slotted into third and the top three quickly cleared off at the front, as Davies increased his lead over the first few laps.

Leon Camier’s race ended prematurely on Lap Three when the MV Agusta Reparto Corse rider crashed out from eighth position.

Up at the front, Davies was continuing to capitalise on his lead, slowly and steadily stretching the gap over the Kawasaki boys who were running together in second and third.

Sykes had the edge over Rea for the first half of the race, but on Lap 10 Rea decided it was time to make the move, passing his team-mate at Turn Five to take second spot.

Behind, Nicky Hayden was running in a steady fourth position aboard his Honda World Superbike Team machine, as Alex Lowes fell back into the clutches of his Pata Yamaha team-mate Sylvain Guintoli, dropping back to sixth and then to seventh as the second Honda of Dutchman Michael van der Mark passed him on Lap 12.

Sykes spent the remainder of the race keeping a close guard behind Rea, hoping for an opportunity to pass. A couple of looks up the inside didn’t do him any good, and eventually he had to admit defeat.

Towards the end, Hayden began to catch up on the Kawasakis but was never in any position to mount a challenge.

With two laps to go, Davies was long gone up at the front and although Rea looked to pull away from Sykes, his team-mate stuck with him, riding around on his back wheel ready to pounce should Rea make even the slightest of mistakes.

But Rea rode a faultless last couple of laps, eventually crossing the line second and some 5.8s adrift of winner Davies. Sykes was third just 0.720s behind.

Hayden took fourth ahead of Guintoli, as van der Mark was sixth. Alex Lowes took seventh ahead of the Althea BMW of Jordi Torres in eighth.

The Pedercini Racing Kawasaki of Anthony West crossed the line in ninth position as Lorenzo Savadori on the IodaRacing team Aprilia was 10th.

Click here for full race results