Briefly...
Chaz Davies, fresh from a brace of
wins at the previous round in America
was so eager to get going at Sepang
that he left pitlane for the first session
with no knee sliders on his leathers,
forcing him back in to complete his
required equipment list.
The Core" Motorsport Thailand
team, running American PJ Jacob-
sen in World Supersport this year,
had a nervous time on Thursday as
their bikes had not turned up when
they had been expected. They had
received most of their other kit, but
the race CBR600RR itself was the
last thing to show up. It showed up
in good form, as on Saturday both
rider and team took their first ever
pole positions.
Leon Camier thought that Sepang
would be a difficult circuit for him,
and he was proved right, going 15th
in combined qualifying as his ma-
chine's relatively low power output
and acceleration hurt his pre-race
chances at the 3.4-mile long and
hugely wide Sepang circuit.
Tom Sykes became a father for the
second time on Thursday before the
Sepang race, his wife Amy giving
birth to a second daughter a day
before Sykes showed up to race.
The threatened rains at Sepang
arrived on Friday, just in time to prove
to be legendary in duration and sever-
ity. It spoiled the second session on
track for the World Supersport riders,
and then the Superbike riders. The
astoundingly heavy rain dries rela-
tively quickly at Sepang, but not quick
enough for the track to be anything
other than half-wet and half-dry.
VOL. 52 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 4, 2015 P73
continued on next page
CHAZ DAVIES' WIN KEEPS
JONATHAN REA SIX
POINTS SHY OF THE WORLD
SUPERBIKE TITLE GOING INTO
THE SUMMER BREAK
SEPARATION
BY GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
A
fter two similar, yet differ-
ent 16-lap World Super-
bike Championship races
in the heat in Malaysia, Kawasaki
Racing Team's Jonathan Rea took
one win and then almost took an
impossible second, despite being
three seconds back with three
laps to go.
The champion elect reeled in
Aruba.it Racing Ducati's Chaz Da-
vies right at the end of race two
but despite passing under power
before the final hairpin at Sepang,
Davies' block pass on the inside
allowed the Ducati rider to hold
off Rea by .091 of a second, even
less than Rea's .121 of a second
advantage in the opener.
