VOL. 52 ISSUE 21 MAY 27, 2015 P35
race two were super-quick. He
then made his favorite type of
race, out front and growing the
gap as he raced his pit-board.
"A full set this weekend—two
race wins, pole position and a
new lap record," said Sykes.
"After some battles in race one
I had a clean start in race two
and I went a little bit faster down
Craner and into the Old Hairpin
to stop any passes, and away we
went."
The points and podium
steamroller that has been Rea in
2015 carried on smoothly with
his two second places—by 3.743
seconds in race one and a more
substantive 9.772 in race two—
but it was a whole lot harder than
it looked.
He and Sykes were touching
elbows and knees through much
of race one, with Rea eventually
making a go-ahead gesture to
Sykes.
Rea suffered some issues in
race one, but many more in race
two when he so nearly crashed;
it was a miracle he stayed on.
Kicked hard out of his saddle
he broke his left heel guard
clean off as he came back
down, but his hard contact on
the tarmac at Coppice corner
bent his rear brake lever, and
that helped slow him down, as
did some rear tire feel issues.
"Somebody was looking down
on me because I had accepted
at one point that I had crashed
and then I landed perfectly back
on, had a bit of a wobble and
then said, 'okay, let's go again—It
was really lucky," said Rea, just
happy to have kept his dream
season start going, with no re-
sult lower than second still.
He got beat by Sykes but
knew his teammate would be a
threat after his recent progress,
and riding at such a strong track
for Sykes and Kawasaki.
"Massive thanks to Kawasaki
because this weekend we knew
the bike was so strong," Rea
said. "All year we know the bike
is so strong. I do not think the
bike or the regulations have
been struggling, I think Tom
[Sykes] is now just finding his
feet and it is so cool and such a
privilege to ride for a manufac-
turer that is really pushing hard
in Superbike."
Third on each 23-lap race was
Aruba.it Racing Ducati's Chaz
Davies who was not sure wheth-
er to be happy that he beat up
his previous Donington hoodoos
or unhappy to be 15 seconds
behind Sykes in race one and
12 seconds off in race two. He
came on better as the races
went on and made the best of
what could have been a worse
job at a circuit he does not get
on with.
"The weekend wasn't easy
but we worked hard and to finish
both races on the podium here
is very positive," said Davies.
"Today we simply weren't on the
same level as the Kawasakis
and doing any better than third
was difficult. Let's say I've done
all I could here today and we
can only be happy, especially
considering the fact that this
has always been something of a
bogey track for me."
In the championship Rea
moved to a gigantic 101 points
clear of second place Haslam
(179), but Sykes is now only
one point behind Haslam (178).
Davies is fourth on 155.
Gordon Ritchie
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
A very happy Sykes celebrates with
his daughter in the winner's circle.
