Sometimes you can’t see the forest from the trees, and Aragon’s Race 2 was a good example of that in World Superbike. The championship standings have been dominated by Jonathan Rea all season, but this was the fourth time that the reigning world champion was pushed to the limit on race day this season.
With Rea having started the day with a 100% winning record in 2017, the pressure was on the rest of the field to break his stranglehold on the series. Ultimately, it came down to Jonathan Rea versus Chaz Davies, as had been expected, with the duo renewing their intense rivalry from 24-hours earlier.
On Saturday it was Rea’s day, but on Race 2 Davies made amends for crashing out of the lead in the opening race, to take a thoroughly deserved victory. It was the Welshman’s 21st WorldSBK victory, and as he came into parc ferme to greet his team, the relief and joy was clear to see.
“Yesterday was a disaster,” said Davies afterwards. “From the first lap of Friday until the last lap today it’s been a tough weekend. The whole weekend was really a disaster until the last lap of the second race.”
“The only moment of joy is bringing home the win, and it’s good to bring it home like that. We know the bike is good here, although we still need to work in a lot of different areas, but for now we are really going to enjoy this and it was a great battle.”
Having fought back from tenth on the grid, with Rea starting ninth, both riders needed to be at their best at Motorland Aragon, and with Marco Melandri in close proximity any mistake would have been punished. For Rea, 45 points from this weekend was another positive for his title defence.
“I’m really pleased and its been a really good weekend for us,” said the Northern Irishman. “We have come to a track that’s not strong for me on the bike, but we put a good Friday in, and I felt confident going into the races.”
“To put in a 18 full laps with Chaz yesterday, bar to bar in both races, at one of his strongest tracks was no mean feat. And today we had a good battle, so are really happy to get a podium.”
With Rea extending his championship lead to 50 points, this weekend and his consistency has given him a deserved advantage, but the racing has been much closer than the title lead would suggest.
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