By Rizwan Rehmat
DOHA: Britain’s Leon Haslam and Spaniard Jordi Torres won the final two races of the 13th and last round of the 2015 World Superbike Championship but world champion Jonathon Rea came agonisingly close to creating a new points record in one season.
Haslam, who finished in seventh spot in race one yesterday, whizzed past compatriot Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) to seal his second win of the season in a time of 33 minutes 45.745 seconds.
The Red Devils Roma rider saw Britain’s Tom Sykes repeat his third-place finish in the first race by ending the final 17-lap race of the season only 0.0388 seconds behind Haslam.
Davies, who was placed fourth in race one, ended race two 0.110 seconds behind Haslam who sneaked past the Briton on the final stretch. The small winning margin meant it was a double win for Aprilia in the season finale.
Rea, who ended the season with 548 points, wasted the chance of setting a new points record (552 set by Colin Edwards in 2002) ended when his KRT suffered a technical problem on lap 6.
Haslam was pleased with the outcome of the season.
“It was a good race. For me, there were technical issues and some races were not that good. But in Qatar, it was such a fantastic team effort. A big thanks to the guys,” Haslam said
Davies said: “I am happy to be second I had no idea whether he (Haslam) was part of the group. It was nearly a win for me coming into the last corner. One mistake in the whole race but being second in the championship makes me really happy.” Sykes was hard to please in the end. “Amazing fight, yes. Honestly it was a little disappointing because we had electronic problems. Some connections were not correct,” Sykes said.
“That’s why we were losing so much ground, It is a bit of shame. A lot of passing but we were still able to stay calm. You know the strength of the Ducati. We gave a bit of space to those guys but I don;t consider to be the best week. It has been a fantastic second half of the season.
Earlier in In race one last night, after a sea-saw battle between Tores and Rea, the former produced a late surge to nail his win with a time of 33 minutes 40.833 seconds.
Torres’ maiden win in World SBK helped Aprilia maintain its 100 percent record of podium finishes at the Qatari venue
Rea, who grabbed the lead for a brief while on lap 11, finished 0.726 seconds. Sykes, who was in the lead until lap 11, failed to maintain his promising start. The Briton finished 6.579 seconds adrift of Torres.
For Rea, the 2015 world champion, it was his 65th podium finish.
Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) finished in fourth spot while with Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) secured the fifth spot. Haslam completed the top 6 riders from race one.
“It was a really incredible race. My team pushed a lot this week,”
Torres said. “It was my first win. It feels incredible. I am too excited right now. I think it becomes more exciting in the second race,” he added.
Rea, riding a Kawasaki ZX-10R, said: “I gave 200 percent in that race. I can’t thank my guys enough. They worked really hard. I tried to save my tyres. It was so difficult to pass. I was committed to a move. I went far right and had that moment (with Torres) I am proud of my guys.”
Sykes struggled to explain his sluggish finish. He said: “I don’t know. You are entitled to your opinion. There was no problem honestly. If there was bit of more control, I would have done better. That’s racing. Honestly we could have had a better fight I wasn’t able to pick up the bike. Hopefully we can rectify that problem.”
The Peninsula
