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There were no surprises when newly crowned Jonathan Rea devoured his rivals once again in race two, winning his sixty-eighth race since arriving in the Superbike series as a permanent entry in 2009.
He had something of a scuffle with a strong Chaz Davies, impressive on the brakes with his Panigale R, before passing him at the Nurburgring chicane, Johnny entering with supersonic speed, confident with the front of his factory ZX10-RR bike.
After that it was head down all the way to the line, the gold painted number 1 bike passing under the chequered flag in first place, for the fifty-third time since 2015: “it took me some time to get up to first place, and from there I was able to win again. This evening I'll be celebrating for sure”. It's about time too, Johnny rarely letting his hair down and preferring to focus on his singular goal: winning.
Despite serious shoulder pain, Chaz Davies held the Ducati flag high, doing what he could against Rea, particularly in braking. Once the Kawasaki passed him, the #7 rider did well to hold on to second place: “i'm very pleased, I've suffered a lot in recent months and I didn't think I could reach the podium here, so I thank the team”.
Van Der Mark got away like a rocket, battling for the lead before being overtaken by the red and green bikes. The Dutchman is nevertheless the third force in this final stage of the season, the Yamaha R1 having grown in terms of performance and consistency: “I made a good start, but didn't have enough to be able to stay with Johnny and Chaz."
Sykes had looked as if he might be in with a chance of a win today, but in the end he crossed the line fourth, ahead of Melandri. Considering their team-mate respective results, Tom and Marco are presumably less than satisfied.
A solid sixth place for Lorenzo Savadori, the first Aprilia rider across the line, ahead of Alex Lowes, seventh, confirmed with team Crescent for next season too.
Xavi Fores closed eighth. It appears the Spaniard will leave team Barni at the end of the season, replaced by Michael Rinaldi, thirteenth today. Leon Camier has struggled this weekend, his ninth-place finish nevertheless better than team-mate Gagne's sixteenth position.
Baz and Laverty battled it out for tenth, the BMW rider winning that fight, Jordi Torres scores two points with the MV, while Argentinian Mercado goes home with one point and prepares for his home round in two weeks' time.
Riders classification: Rea 470, Davies 335, Van Der Mark 309.
