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Sepang WSBK: Davies win prevents Rea taking title

Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies has prevented Jonathan Rea from wrapping up the World Superbike title at Sepang today by taking victory in race two by less than a a tenth of a second and keeping the Ulsterman’s points advantage to less than the 150 points he needed to be crowned champion in Malaysia.

Rea followed Davies for a majority of the race but it wad disaster for Sykes as got tangled up in Max Biaggi’s crash into the second corner on lap one which pushed him down to 16th place but as he fought he way back through the pack, Sykes lost the front into turn nine which saw drop to dead last. It is the second year in a row Sykes has been involved in an early incident at the circuit - last year it was the start of a long and bitter feud with then team-mate Loris Baz.

Sykes’ exit meant it was then a straight fight between Rea and Davies with the Castletown resident needing to win. Davies put in a masterclass of consistent laps to conserve his tyres but Rea chopped a three second lead down to nothing with three laps to go and tried to pass Davies into the final corner.

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Davies defended well on the brakes and although they collided, no harm was done. Davies just kept the advantage and bagged victory for the third time in four races. It also means he leapfrogs Sykes in the championship table and now becomes Rea’s number one threat at the next round at Jerez in the middle of September.

Aprilia’s Jordi Torres didn’t make the same tyre error as he did in race one and bagged his second podium of the season with a lonely race in third. Sylvain Guintoli took another fourth place for Pata Honda with some new electronic software giving the reigning world champion the pace he needed for his best results of the season.

Guintoli’s team-mate Michael Van Der Mark made up for his first-race retirement with fifth place with Leon Haslam taking sixth. David Salom bagged seventh while Alex Lowes also had to fight his way back through the pack after he was also caught in the Sykes/Biaggi melee but finished in eighth.

Althea Ducati’s Matteo Baiocco ended in ninth place with Roman Ramos picking up tenth on the Go Eleven Kawasaki. Leon Camier finished in 12th behind Nico Canepa  while Sykes recovered to 14th and took two points.

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