Davies in control at Imola as Laverty suffers fiery crash

Chaz Davies has broken Jonathan Rea's momentum in the World Superbike championship with victory in race one at Imola which was ended prematurely by a red flag after a fiery crash for Eugene Laverty.

The Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider looked set to produce a supreme race pace having got away in the lead from pole position before quickly building time gap on the chasing pack. Marco Melandri made a blitzing start on the sister Ducati to jump to second but was slowly reeled in by Rea to re-take second place.

Davies' lead stabilised at around seven seconds at the start of lap 14 but the race was red flagged when Laverty crashed at turn 18.

The Milwaukee Aprilia rider appeared to collided with Pata Yamaha's Alex Lowes which dislodged Laverty's front wheel fairing and was unable to stop the bike so the Northern Irishman jumped off which saw the bike slam into the safety barriers and catch alight.

Laverty was taken to the medical centre as a precaution with race direction investigating the incident and no further action was taken.

With the race declared after 12 laps, Davies won ahead of Rea with Melandri keeping hold of third place from the charging Tom Sykes.

Full WorldSBK race one results from Imola:

1. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 12 laps 

2. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +6.696s 

3. Marco Melandri ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R +9.287s 

4. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +9.913s 

5. Xavi Fores ESP Barni Ducati 1199R +16.142s 

6. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta RC F4 RR +21.914s 

7. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Yamaha YZF-R1 +24.638s 

8. Alex Lowes GBR PATA Crescent Yamaha R1 +25.792s 

9. Roman Ramos ESP Team Go Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10R +34.035s 

10. Stefan Bradl GER Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 +34.585s 

11. Alex de Angelis SMR Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +39.857s 

12. Lorenzo Savadori ITA Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 +40.639s 

13. Randy Krummenacher SWI Puccetti Kawasaki ZX-10R +43.089s 

14. Raffaele De Rosa ITA Althea BMW S1000RR +43.560s 

15. Ayrton Badovini ITA Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R +47.289s 



16. Ondrej Jezek CZE Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R +50.389s 



Did not finish 



Eugene Laverty IRE Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4

Nicky Hayden USA Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2

Riccardo Russo ITA Guandalini Yamaha YZF-R1

Leandro Mercado ITA IodaRacing Aprilia RSV4



Did not start 



Jordi Torres ESP Althea BMW S1000RR