Chaz Davies got his own back on Jonathan Rea in today’s second free practice at Qatar as he stole the top spot in the closing moments of the session.
Davies had been pipped to second by the Kawasaki man in today’s first session, but made sure he made amends when he did the same back in the second.
As the hour-long practice kicked off under the floodlights at Qatar, Tom Sykes was one of the first men to make a charge up the leader board as he battled to keep his chances of securing second in the title fight alive.
After a bad first practice left him languishing in 13th position, he was determined to make amends as soon as possible, and it took him just eight minutes and a handful of laps to climb up to fifth quickest and back in touch with the frontrunners.
Aruba Ducati’s Davies, who had been leading most of the earlier session before Rea had snatched the top spot late in the day, was back on top after 20 minutes.
The Welshman was on a charge as he continued to put in some fast sectors, eventually bettering his best and becoming the first rider to hit the 1’57s with just over 20 minutes of the session to run.
And it seemed no-one had an answer for him as no-one else seemed able to get down into the 1’57s for most of the session.
But Rea – who needs just two points this weekend to reclaim the World Championship – wasn’t ready to give up yet, and stormed to the top of the timesheets with four minutes to go with a 1’57.759.
However Davies was not about to let him get away with it a second time, and had just headed out for his final run. As the flag fell, he was on his quickest of the day, and eventually crossed the line with an impressive 1’57.712, enough to steal the top spot and take the bragging rights for the day.
Davies and Rea were the only two riders who managed to break into the 1’57s. Third quickest was Xavi Fores who sneaked in on his Barni Racing Team Ducati while Pata Yamaha’s Sylvain Guintoli was fourth.
Britain’s Leon Camier ended the day fifth aboard the MV Agusta while the second Pata Yamaha of Alex Lowes was sixth quickest. Seventh went to Althea BMW’s Jordi Torres with Honda’s Nicky Hayden ninth.
Despite his strong start earlier, Sykes’ day didn’t end so well as he was only able to muster the ninth fastest lap overall, while Lorenzo Savadori rounds out the top 10.
Leon Haslam just missed out on the top 10 as he set the 11th fastest lap on the Pedercini Kawasaki.
