Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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REA AND DAVIES SPLIT WINS IN THAILAND F or a track that had been solidly green in terms of previous race wins, with all six Chang races having been taken by Kawasaki Racing Team riders, it seemed everybody got some kind of bite at the Buriram cherry this year, for a while. This was a lot to do with the new 2018 rules that have re- duced the peak revs of some machines quite a lot, while reducing some others a bit less. But, there were too many other extraneous technical issues go- ing on for many of the top riders to make too many clear and final conclusions in Thailand, March 24-25. The new rules are hav- ing an impact in some ways, for sure. Take that amazing Ducati win for the first time in Buriram, as Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati WorldSBK) helped himself to the top step on Sunday after also finishing up his first day on the podium, in third place. Superpole winner Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) had been victorious in that first 20-lap race, and from a priva- teer Ducati rider in the shape of Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team Ducati). It was Rea's 55th career win in WorldSBK. In the second race, Davies had a former bogey track trans- form into a bonus track, as he scored career win number 28. "Keeping Kawasaki in sight here has never been easy, never mind beating them," said Da- vies. "It is a real boost for us and everybody else. There were two different races, Jonathan made it work yesterday and we made it work today." He won by a clear margin of 2.1 seconds, from one of two riders who had taken it in turns to lead themselves, Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK). It was first podiums of 2018 for both R1 men. What of Rea this time out? Another quite brilliant display of riding and determination, but only for fourth place after he experienced brake fade. Rea still took the lead in the championship after Chang, but by a sliver, after double Phillip Is- land race winner Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) found his own problems, eighth in race one and seventh in race two. "It does not help, how we managed last season with complete domination," said Rea. "Of course, something needs to be done, and I feel happy—it is motivating to know that now the other guys are actually stronger than us." With both Kawasaki riders finding trouble at some stages in Chang, Sykes was to have no redemption in race two, as this time around it was a mechanical problem in his suspension that was so severe he had to pull out or risk a crash. It was that kind of weekend for many of the top riders, but what- IN THE WIND P36 Chaz Davies boosted his confidence with a dominant win in race two.