VOL. 52 ISSUE 15 APRIL 14, 2015 P43
His race one nemesis Rea
was on form at a track he
thought he would get no wins
from, especially after contract-
ing a fever pre-race, saying after
race one, "I did not expect to
ride for the win today, maybe a
podium. In race two, I did all I
could to hang on to Chaz but we
knew they were strong when we
came here in November. So to
finish with a 1-2 here is a little bit
surreal."
Joining Rea and Davies on
the race one podium was Tom
Sykes feeling he and his team
were making progress. He led
for two thirds of the race, until
Rea moved forward to pass, and
then Davies also, with Sykes
struggling on a fading rear tire.
He had a whopper of a high-
side crash in race two, hobbled
away, but only skinned his
backside and slapped his left leg
very hard, breaking no bones or
tendons.
Leon Haslam was another
British rider who joined the po-
dium party, in race two, continu-
ing a domination that has lasted
all season between the top Brits.
His teammate Jordi Torres
almost robbed him of a podium
place in race two, finishing
within the same second as him
at his own home race in Spain.
Torres was fifth in race one, not
able to crack the British podium
bastion.
New star of the show on track
is regular IDM rider for Ducati,
Xavi Fores, teaming up with
Davies instead of Bayliss this
weekend and running away to
score a top six and then a fifth
on his official Panigale.
The Spanish riders were
nearer the front this weekend,
with Nico Terol on Fores' coat
tails in race one for seventh,
while David Salom made up for
a first race retirement with sixth
in race two for Kawasaki Team
Pedercini.
Thai podium rider Alex Lowes
had two gutsy rides on misfiring
electronics this weekend, non-
finishing in race one and then
coming back from near disaster
at strong pace in race two, albeit
down in 14th and one place be-
hind his equally struggling team-
mate Randy De Puniet.
Pata Honda's Sylvain Guin-
toli had another tough day for
any recent world champion-
ship winner to bear, ninth but
behind Ducati privateer rider in
the shape of Leandro Mercado
in the opener and then falling in
race two, on lap six.
As for Supersport, the last
time Kenan Sofuoglu won a
World Supersport race it was at
Motorland Aragon, just about a
year ago, on a Kawasaki. Until
his most recent visit, that is,
when he re-wrote that score by
winning just a few days ago in
Aragon, on a different Kawasaki.
It was his 28th career win in
class.
A three rider fight at the front
for what looked like being the
whole race was halted when
Jules Cluzel's MV Agusta once
more stopped, robbing him
of possibly his third victory of
the year, had his bike also not
stopped in Thailand.
After that drama, American
PJ Jacobsen lost contact with
Sofuoglu, then lost rear grip, but
still took second.
Behind, a lonely but delighted
Spanish resident ex-pat British
rider, Pata Honda's Kyle Smith
scored his first World Super-
sport podium in third place.
Former AMA Superbike rider
Martin Cardenas failed to finish
in Spain.
Gordon Ritchie
Kenan Sofuoglu
took his first win
in a year and
second in a row
at Aragon.
