Aragon WSBK: Rea edges Davies for race-one win

World Superbike series leader Jonathan Rea pulled further ahead in the championship chase after winning the opening race at Motorland Aragon this morning but was given a hard time by Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies who finished just 0.051s behind the Kawasaki man.

Rea had shadowed and then cruised away from team-mate Tom Sykes in the closing stages, but Davies went with him and tried a move underneath the Kawasaki new boy into the final chicane, briefly taking the lead before the superior acceleration of the ZX-10R pushed him back in front.

On the brakes into the final corner, Davies dived into the lead but Rea turned tighter and got on to the power fractionally earlier, giving him the smallest advantage which he carried to the line for another maximum points score.

Hudderfield’s Sykes had led until there were only nine laps left when Rea began to have a look at a place to pass. A lap later he dived under Sykes into turn four, where he had gone past Davies earlier for second place, and immediately began to pull away as he selected a different front Pirelli to the men around him.

Davies had two bites at getting past Sykes and made it stick with five laps to go as the Kawasaki man ran out of rear tyre. Davies had to wind down his traction control settings in order to find some more mechanical grip to chase down Rea but it wasn’t to be.

Leon Haslam finished in fourth place after a race-long scrap with team-mate Jordi Torres and Ducati replacement rider Xavi Fores. The Derby man looked like he ran out of rear grip early on but still managed to hold off the two Spaniards. Nico Terol took sixth on the Althea Ducati with Tati Mercado right behind him on the Barni Panigale.

Reigning World Champion Sylvain Guintoli ended in ninth after team-mate Michael Van Der Mark retired at half distance, while Leon Camier rounded out the top ten - a remarkable achievement given he has spent most of the weekend sitting in the garage while his team installed an electronics upgrade.

Alex Lowes went out of the race after five laps after he had the bike in neutral at the start and banging the bike into gear at 14,000rpm did some damage. Team-mate Randy De Puniet also retired five laps later.

- See more at: http://www.bikesportnews.com/news/news-detail/aragon-wsbk-rea-edges-davies-for-race-one-win#sthash.J5FIm6GB.dpuf