Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/970089
IN THE WIND P50 THREE-WAY SPLIT IN ARAGON WORLDSBK T he early season ac- tion in 2018 contin- ues to enthrall, no matter the cast. Would race one surprise you if the three podium riders finished within 1.450 seconds of each other? Would it be a surprise if they rode Kawasaki (Jonathan Rea), and Ducati (Chaz Davies and the reborn Xavi Fores) machinery? Davies won at full com- mitment right to the end because he did not know that Rea and his own factory Ducati teammate Marco Melandri had endured similar, but different, degrees of late issues—hence Davies win- ning by 1.184 seconds, with Me- landri missing his rear brake ac- tuation at a critical corner entry as his bike is still fishtailing down straights like somebody just stole all the steering head and swing- arm bearings. As unbelievable as it sounds, it all actually happened at the Pirelli Aragon round of the 2018 FIM WorldSBK Champion- ship in Argentina, April 14-15. Melandri was 4.5 seconds back at the end of race two, but the top three were covered by half a second entering the last lap, before the lunges and des- peration split Davies' pursuers from his slipstream right at the end of 18 frantic laps. It was again epic stuff at times, and had Fores not fallen by taking his brake too far into the final corner midway through race two we could have had a home win, after his great opening-day performance. Only Rea, in full race man- agement mode, on a cool track surface that suited his bike and not the Panigale trio, plus a hard lunge and last corner fight from Davies, kept Xavi away from his first win in race one. A cool Friday and a clever gamble on Pirelli's new and slightly stiffer front tire saw Rea fending off three Ducatis from his front-row start, and then running away thanks to his more maneu- verable bike in the changes of directions and slower corners. He eased back from his lead on the last lap but the fireworks were behind, as Davies and Fores had a great game of line stealing on the final lap, with Davies just 0.023 seconds up at the flag. Melandri had some issues and was dropped from the fight to finish fourth. "There are more Ducatis now in the front. I feel like it is really difficult for us and I'm like the only green guy going, 'Hi! Can you see me!' but it is exciting for sure because it is really difficult for us to be competitive against Ducati right now," Rea said of his weekend. Michael van der Mark (Pata Ya- maha) was fifth, and Tom Sykes (KRT) with an inability to be able Chaz Davies (7) rode like a man possessed to take the race-two win.