During the first race of the WorldSBK Pirelli Riviera Di Rimini Round in Misano, the intense race concluded with Tom Sykes, Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea crossing the finish line.
During the final lap, Chaz Davies, Jonathan Rea and Marco Melandri who were leading the race before Melandri crashed out halfway through the lap.
Davies suffered the same front tyre wash out but Rea wasn’t able to avoid him and ran over the 30 year old Brit with his Kawasaki ZX-10RR.
During the WorldSBK Pirelli Riviera Di Rimini Round which ran its course at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, it was a weekend filled with drama and action for the race series that’s probably one the climatic points in the Superbike World Championship races.
While a few teams and riders celebrated their victories and achievements the past weekend, Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider Chaz Davies was feeling the blow – literally. While fighting for the win in Race 1 on Saturday against the championship leader and rival Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), it looked like the result was set for a great conclusion when the riders cross the finish line.
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Going into the final lap, Chaz Davies was leading the race while Rea was close behind together with Davies’ team mate and Race 2 winner, Marco Melandri. Halfway through the final lap, Melandri unfortunately lost his front end causing him to slide out of the podium finish in Race 1.
The battle between Davies and Rea continued for a few more corners with Rea breathing down Davies just waiting to overtake. Unfortunately, Davies’s Ducati 1199 Panigale R lost its front tyre and he fell right in front of the stalking Rea. With no time and place to manoeuvre his Kawasaki ZX-10RR, Rea unfortunately ran over Davies with both tyres right at the back of Davies.
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Both fell and attempted to pick up their race machines to continue on but on Rea managed to do so while having to watch his team mate Tom Sykes and Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team rider Alex Lowes passing him. Rea managed to salvage the final third podium place while Davies was carried out on a stretcher to the Rimini Hospital.
After the doctor’s assessments, Davies was diagnosed with closed thoracic trauma and later it was announced by WorldSBK that the 30 year old suffered a “fracture of the transverse process of L3 (3rd lumbar vertebrae), as well as contusion of the left thumb.”
The injury was bad enough that he was declared unfit to compete in Race 2 but with fractured vertebrae, we won’t know for sure if this will be turning point of his 2017 season. What we do know is that his Alpinestars racing suit did an amazing job to reduce possible extend of the injury thanks to many of its safety features.
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