Chaz Davies had clear track behind him in the second race, rounding out a top weekend on the GoldBet BMW. Image: World Superbike Press Office.

BMW Motorrad GoldBet’s Chaz Davies collected a maiden double win in Aragon as his World Superbike Championship rivals had their day disrupted by technical problems.

At the site of his first podium finish, Davies secured his first front row start and then went on to win race one after polesitter Tom Sykes and points leader Eugene Laverty were forced out on consecutive laps while leading.

Welshman Davies played a steady hand to lead home Sylvain Guintoli who took over the points lead as his Aprilia Racing teammate faltered.

A prospective one-two finish for BMW went begging after Marco Melandri selected a false neutral and was forced to fight back to third after falling as far as fifth.

Jonathan Rea brought home his Honda 8.196s off the podium placing, with Loris Baz a distant fifth.

Laverty did manage to re-join the race but was a non-classified finisher after losing precious time in pit lane as the team sought to rectify the Aprilia’s issues.

Davide Giugliano, who had made his way into fourth, had his run cut short a lap from the finish line, also experiencing a technical problem aboard his Althea Racing machine.

Australia’s Mark Aitchison, the lone Ducati pilot, was one of four retirements for the race.

Race two belonged to Davies again, and this time it was a considerable margin – over five seconds – that separated himself and second-placed rider Guintoli.

Sykes and Giugliano both bounced back strongly after the disappointment of race one, finishing third and fourth respectively. Melandri battled to another top five finish in a solid Spanish showing.

Davies was elated to score his first win with BMW and back it up in the second race.

“For me it is just an amazing day. I cannot explain how happy I am. My first victory with BMW and then the double win – this is something I was hoping to achieve this year but I did not expect it this early,” said Davies.

“In race one, the DNFs by Tom and Eugene definitely made it easier. In race two it seemed that I had a comfortable lead, but I had to push a lot.

“One of the most impressing things is the fact that we have done a lot of testing in Jerez but not here in Aragon. What a weekend!”

Maximum points from the Aragon races moves Davies into second place on the WSBK standings, though Guintoli’s pair of second-place finishes see him stretch to a clear lead in first, 22 points clear of Davies and 40 clear of teammate Laverty.

Australia’s Aitchison was a non-starter in the second and final WSBK race, completing a challenging weekend on the Effenbert Liberty machine.

Fabien Foret made a break in the Supersport race to cross the line 6.595s clear of rookie rider Michael van der Marc and Luca Scassa.

The 18-lap stoush was characterised by crashes and technical issues. Kenan Sofuoglu’s title defence suffered a severe blow when a braking problem put him out of contention, and Sam Lowes race ground to a halt while leading the race on the final lap, a gearshift issue identified as the cause.

Scot Kev Coghlan took a turn in the race lead but crashed out, leaving the podium open to Foret, van der Marc and Scassa, who incidentally are now placed first, second and third on the standings.

Australian rider Matt Davies had a solid run to the line with an 18th place finish on his PTR Honda.

The world championship will resume in a fortnight at the Assen TT circuit in the Netherlands.

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