The World Superbike paddock and the racing community came together at Donington Park, to pay tribute to Nicky Hayden.
But after two great races in the superbike class; a supersport race that saw great battles; and a Supersport 300 race that saw a three rider scrap for the win, it was the racing that paid the biggest tribute to The Kentucky Kid.
Episode 52 of the Paddock Pass Podcast sees David Emmett and Steve English covering the World Superbike Championship’s stop in Imola, Italy.
The boys get us caught up on what is happening in the WorldSBK paddock, which includes some silly season speculation, as well as a discussion about the possibility of WorldSBK seeing a spec-ECU or rule concessions to balance the team entries.
There is a great deal of discussion about the rivalry brewing between Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies, as well as the future involvement of factory teams, as manufacturers tease new motorcycles and look to improve their WorldSBK results.
Before the show ends, the guys also give a quick briefing on the World Supersport and Supersport 300 classes.
We should preface that this episode was recorded before we heard the news about Nicky Hayden’s cycling accident in Italy, and the entire Paddock Pass Podcast teams is hoping for Nicky’s full and speedy recovering. He and his family are in our thoughts, and we hope to see him back in the racing paddock very soon.
As always, be sure to follow the Paddock Pass Podcast on Facebook, Twitter and subscribe to the show on iTunes and SoundCloud – we even have an RSS feed for you. If you like the show, we would really appreciate you giving it a review on iTunes. Thanks for listening!
Chaz Davies etched his name into Ducati lore by once again dominating the Italian manufacturer’s home round at Imola.
With hundreds of guests on site to see it, Davies picked his way through the pack in Race 2 from ninth on the grid, to take the lead at half-distance from Tom Sykes, and ease his way to what would become a comfortable victory.
The Welshman was in relaxed form all weekend, and afterwards said that “this was a weekend that our bike was the best bike out there, and it was up to us to use that to its full potential.”
Davies certainly did that as he wrapped up his third win of the 2017 campaign and moved back to second in the standings.
Chaz Davies continued to dominate the Imola WorldSBK meeting by claiming victory in the opening race of the weekend.
The Welsh rider had earlier taken the fifth Superpole of his career, but the rate at which he was able to ease away from the field certainly laid a marker to his rivals for what to expect in tomorrow’s race.
The Ducati star has won the last three races at the Italian venue from pole position, but with the Race 2 grid reshuffle he’ll have to battle through the pack from ninth position on Sunday.
The tension that has been building between Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies finally spilled over at Assen. Three years of competing with one another for race wins and championships has strained their relationship, and on Saturday at Assen it reached its breaking point.
On the final laps of Superpole, Davies was on a flying lap and came across Rea through Turn 7. Being forced to sit up and avoid the touring Kawasaki, emotions got the better of Davies, and at the end of the session he hit out at Rea in parc ferme.
“You stayed on three quarters of the track,” stated Davies after qualifying third. “I don’t know how tight a line you can pull out of that left, but I’m three-quarters of the track out there.”
“You were in the way mid-way through the corner, and then on the exit I had to pick it up because you were three-quarters across the track, if I didn’t I’d have cleaned you out! Next time I’ll smash you from the inside and we’ll see what happens.”
Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies went toe-to-toe and bar-to-bar in both races at Aragon, and while they shared the spoils with a win apiece, it was clear that Aragon could be a defining moment in the 2017 World Superbike season.
Over the course of two 18-lap races, there was nothing to separate both riders. Even so, at the end of an eventful weekend of racing, Rea had still extended his championship lead by a further 20 points over Davies.
Saturday’s Race 1 crash came at the conclusion of a thrilling back and forth between the two riders, who have defined WorldSBK in recent years.
Sometimes you can’t see the forest from the trees, and Aragon’s Race 2 was a good example of that in World Superbike. The championship standings have been dominated by Jonathan Rea all season, but this was the fourth time that the reigning world champion was pushed to the limit on race day this season.
With Rea having started the day with a 100% winning record in 2017, the pressure was on the rest of the field to break his stranglehold on the series. Ultimately, it came down to Jonathan Rea versus Chaz Davies, as had been expected, with the duo renewing their intense rivalry from 24-hours earlier.