A three rider battle at the end after what looked like a two rider battle for the win between the leading Kawasakis for most of the 21 laps saw Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) get the better of both Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) on a dry track in the second Magny Cours WorldSBK race of the weekend.
The fight up front between Sykes and Rea allowed Davies to come back from his long time third place, and he pounced as Rea tried to pass inside Sykes with five to go.
With better pace at the end Davies pushed on once in the lead to take a second out of his rivals with three laps left, and win by over two seconds.
Rea shook off long-time leader Sykes and pushed hard to get back to Davies but laps into the 1’38 bracket from the Ducati rider stopped any hopes rea had of a win.
Behind the podium Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) had arguably his best race of his season in such sunny conditions, clearly fourth after winning an early battle with eventual fifth place rider Michael van der Mark (Honda World Superbike Team). Lorenzo Savadori (IodaRacing Team Aprilia) was once again impressive, in sixth.
Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team), Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) and Nicky Hayden (Honda World Superbike Team) battled to the end to take seventh through ninth, with the last place in the top ten going to Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team Ducati).
Josh Brookes (Milwaukee BMW) pushed on to finish 11th, 31 seconds down on the win but one place ahead of Markus Reiterberger (Althea BMW Racing Team). Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) was a non-finisher after hitting technical troubles.
In the championship, Rea has 426, Sykes 378 Davies 345 – an advantage of 48 points for Rea over Sykes, with four races and two rounds left.
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- Davies, WSBK Race2, French WSBK 2016
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- Sykes, WSBK Race2, French WSBK 2016
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- Reiterberger, WSBK Race2, French WSBK 2016
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- Hayden, WSBK Race2, French WSBK 2016
By Gordon Ritchie