Source: WorldSBK.

The opening race of the day at the Misano World circuit Marco Simoncelli was won by Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) who converted his 27th pole position into his 25th career win, his third of the year in front of an enthusiastic Italian crowd.

In doing so he once more tied his teammate Jonathan Rea for both number of wins and podium finishes.

Leading from the start, Sykes led all 21 laps, coming home ahead of championship leader Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team), who delighted the Italian fans around the circuit with an incredible final lap duel for second.

Davies lunged past Rea into the final corner only to run wide, being passed again on the run to the flag by Rea in a thrilling finish.

Davide Giugliano put the second official factory Ducati into fourth, the Italian running second for the majority of the 21-lap encounter before being overhauled by the British pairing of Rea and Davies in the final two laps.

Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) was unable to show the pace he had in qualifying coming home fifth, 0.1s ahead of the returning Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) who had a steady ride to finish sixth.

The six-time world champion survived a heart stopping moment on the opening lap when he collided with Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team).

Guintoli would eventually finish ninth after fighting with Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia), Michele Pirro (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team), and his own Pata Honda teammate Michael van der Mark, who finished just behind in 10th.

The final point scorers were Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing), Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), Roman Ramos (Team Go Eleven) and Matteo Baiocco (Althea Racing).

Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) was running in the leading group before crashing at turn three on the third lap. The WorldSBK rookie was physically annoyed with himself as he walked back to the pits.

The second race was won by championship leader Rea after a race-long fight with Giugliano, who took the lead on lap seven where he stayed until being passed by Rea with five laps to go.

The current points leader was kept under constant pressure by the Italian, but held on to record his 11th win of the year by 1.290s. Rea’s double podium finish equals the record set by Troy Corser in 2005 of 16 consecutive podium finishes in a season.

Behind the first two, Haslam got the better of Davies on the second factory Ducati after their own personal race long duel to claim the final podium place.

Race one winner Sykes was strong for the first half of the second encounter before dropping back to fifth at the flag. The former champion finished just ahead of Biaggi and Torres, the Aprilia Racing pairing swapping places throughout the 21 laps.

Pirro rode a lonely race to finish eighth on the third Aruba.it Racing Ducati, with Pata Honda teammates Guintoli and van der Mark completing the top 10.

The final five point-scoring riders were Badovini, Niccolo Canepa (Althea Racing), Markus Reiterberger (VanZon Rehema BMW), Ramos and David Salom (Team Pedercini Kawasaki).

Mercado’s run of point scoring finishes in every race came to an end, the Argentine rider retiring his Barni Racing Ducati at the end of lap three.

Lowes was another of the riders to retire, on lap nine, while Baiocco fell off his Panigale R machine to end as the local rider’s racing weekend drew to a close on a low.

The World Supersport race in Misano was won in style by Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), who converted pole position into his third win of 2015, the 10th of his WSS career. T

he Frenchman smashed the lap record for the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli by over half a second on his way to victory by 1.525s at the flag.

Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finished 11th after crashing out of third on the final lap. The championship leader was lucky to be able to remount to salvage what could be an important five points, but his lead is now half of what it was.

At the end of 19 laps, Cluzel was joined on the podium by PJ Jacobsen (CORE Motorsport Thailand) and Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) who were second and third respectively.

Australian rookie Glenn Scott (AARK Racing) scored a single point in 15th position, another strong performance for the privateer Honda outfit.

Lorenzo Savadori (Nuova M2 Racing) claimed the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup race victory, fending off Althea Racing Ducati’s Raffaele de Rosa and Roberto Tamburini (Team MotoxRacing BMW). Bryan Staring was ninth, while countryman and Pedercini Kawasaki teammate crashed out on the final lap while battling for points.

2015 Superbike World Championship
Round eight – Misano, Italy

Superbike race one results:
1. Tom Sykes
2. Jonathan Rea
3. Chaz Davies
4. Davide Giugliano
5. Leon Haslam
6. Max Biaggi
7. Ayrton Badovini
8. Michele Pirro
9. Sylvain Guintoli
10. Michael van der Mark

Superbike race two results:
1. Jonathan Rea
2. Davide Giugliano
3. Leon Haslam
4. Chaz Davies
5. Tom Sykes
6. Max Biaggi
7. Jordi Torres
8. Michele Pirro
9. Sylvain Guintoli
10. Michael van der Mark

Supersport race results:
1. Jules Cluzel
2. PJ Jacobsen
3. Lorenzo Zanetti
4. Gino Rea
5. Alex Baldolini
6. Fabio Menghi
7. Christian Gamarino
8. Riccardo Russo
9. Marco Faccani
10. Martin Cardenas
15. Glenn Scott (AUS)

Click here for detailed results