WSBK, Laguna Seca J3, Race 3: Victory for Ducati with Davies, retirement for Bautista

After being up to 61 points behind Álvaro Bautista in Jerez, four race weekends later Jonathan Rea totals 61 points ahead of his Spanish partner. Race 2 of this one this Sunday at Laguna Seca was only a parody, on the ground from the first turn and forfeited for the second start. The term “free fall” seems quite well suited for the Ducati official.

Let's return to happier things: Eighth with his Yamaha in Race 1, Loris Baz wanted to do better this Sunday afternoon: “Saturday proved to be a bit complicated. Despite everything, I am satisfied. The final free practice session went very well, but I crashed in Superpole on my first lap. The bike was damaged a lot, but once again the team did an excellent job to allow me to qualify on the third row a few minutes from the checkered flag. A big thank you to everyone ! They clearly saved my weekend, because if I had had to start from last place at the start of the first two rounds, it would have been much more difficult.”

“In the race, faced with much higher temperatures, we had to deal with the grip of the track. Our machine experiences more difficulties in these conditions... but we are going to focus on that. Despite everything, we are in the top 8 and we score points. We are still at the beginning of the adventure with this motorcycle. It’s up to us to continue the work and progress as best we can to try to grab a place among the top five this Sunday.”

First victory of the year for Chaz Davies

For this third round of the weekend, the front row was made up of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). The second was Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing), Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team). The third included Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha), Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing) and Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura). On tenth place on the grid, we found Alvaro Bautista, and on the last Alessandro Delbianco, penalized for having caused the fall of JD Beach. At the time of departure, the air temperature was 20° and that of the asphalt 43°.

The quickest to start was Chaz Davies ahead of Johnny Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Tom Sykes, Alex Lowes and Leon Haslam. Loris Baz quickly moved up to eighth and Álvaro Bautista tenth. Rea attacked Davies, but the Welshman on the Ducati held off the Northern Irishman on the Kawasaki. Álvaro Bautista returned to his pit in slow motion and retired, apparently following his injured shoulder during his fall in the previous race.

Chaz Davies in the lead set the fastest lap in 1'22.976. Johnny Rea was stuck to his rear wheel and Toprak Razgatlioglu not far from the two leaders. Michael van der Mark broke down on the circuit and retired. A great fight took place for fourth place, 5 seconds behind Rea, Sykes, Lowes, Haslam, Torres and Baz.

Davies and Rea opened up a small gap of 1.8 over Razgatlioglu. Then came Sykes at 6.5, ahead of Lowes and Haslam, then came Torres and Baz at 8.9. At halfway, Davies and Rea trailed Razgatlioglu by 3.1. Sykes fourth at 8.6 could not get rid of Lowes and Haslam. At 12 seconds, Torres and Baz continued their duel for seventh place. Davies was leading more and more widely as Rea seemed content with second place, already more than two seconds behind. Razgatlioglu defended the third step of the podium alone at 4.4. Sykes, Lowes and Haslam vied for fourth place at 11.4, and Torres and Baz for seventh at 15.8.

The gaps between the top three stabilized and we seemed to be heading towards a Davies-Rea-Razgatlioglu podium. For fourth place, Lowes made an attack and overtook Sykes, with Haslam not far behind. Torres was still holding off Baz for seventh position.

In the final laps, Loris Baz overtook Jordi Torres' Kawasaki Pedercini with his Ten Kate Yamaha, but he was 4 seconds behind Haslam, then sixth. This same Leon fiercely attacked Tom Sykes fifth, who followed Lowes fourth at 2.3. But Sykes resisted very well and Haslam could not find the opening.

Chaz Davies won his first victory of the year (since Aragón 2018), which was excellent for his morale and prestige, but also useful for Ducati in the manufacturers' standings where Kawasaki is only 1 point away! Rea calmly took second place which opened the door to the title, while Razgatlioglu finished third and thus got closer to a factory bike for next year. Lowes brought the first Yamaha into 4th position ahead of the BMW of Sykes, followed by Haslam, Baz and Torres.

Ranking of Race 3:

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

Next round in Portimão from September 6 to 8

Photos © worldsbk.com / Dorna, manufacturers and teams