Tasked with a tough fight in the Spanish Round, Marco Melandri put in a stunning performance to take second position in race two from tenth on the gird, whilst Chaz Davies had a strong performance in race two to take another podium finish.

Melandri came out on Saturday with a stunning pace but was forced to retire from the race with a mechanical issue, meaning he faced a big battle on Sunday from 10^th on the grid.

Not to be disheartened, the Italian was able to fight for the podium spots early on. However he was soon locked in a battle with Michael van der Mark, which meant he was unable to hunt down Rea for the lead. Despite this, Melandri was happy to take second position and redeem some points from Saturday’s disappointment.

 “It was a very difficult race,” began Melandri. “Starting from P10 makes it hard to overtake, especially on this track."

" I knew when Jonny was leading he would try hard to pull away from me, so for this I had a very determined start and tried to pass the other guys quickly. But with van der mark I thought it would be easy, and I thought I could pass him at T5. He tried to fight back and we touched each other, and I lost a lot of time."

"I think for Michael it would have been better to let me go and to follow me to the other guys, but every rider races with their head. It’s ok and it was good to come back, and to finish second was the best I could expect today.”

On the other side of the garage, Davies has been playing catch up all weekend after he lost out on an hour of track time on Friday. Taking a podium finish on Saturday, he continued to fight up the front, but was unable to make it up to the fight for the lead. With his mind set on second position in the championship, he was happy to leave Spain joint on points with Sykes.

Davies says: “Very happy with that, we did the best we could do this weekend. It was clear it was going to be hard for us from Friday morning, I had obstacles all over but it was clear Jonny and Marco were just that cut above, so it was good to take that fight to them this weekend."

"We did enough to make some of the gap up to Tom which has put us bang even in the championship. I was hoping to come away from here with a gap of no more than five points with him in front so I’m happy with that."

"I’m happy with how we’ve worked this weekend, the team have tried really hard, they had a bike to get into tip top shape for the restart and it was fantastic. It’s been one thing after the other this weekend, but congrats to Jonny and Marco, they rode good today.”

Bouncing back from a tough Friday around the Circuito de Jerez, Chaz Davies was able to secure a podium finish in race one after putting in a stunning performance with limited track time on the Panigale R – which was important considering the new track surface.

The British rider was the man to beat around the circuit this weekend, but following a crash on Friday he struggled to improve his strong pace.

Once he was settled in with the pace in the opening race of the weekend, he was able to be up and fighting for the victory as he continues to hunt down second position in the world championship.

Thrilled with his performance, he looks ahead to what is set to be a tricky race two.

Davies explains: “I’m really happy because I feel that today we rode a really strong race after missing most of FP2 yesterday."

"It was tough because we had one hour less of track time and, with a new surface, there was a lot to take in. I felt that we were learning as the race was unfolding."

"It took me a few laps to adapt, so overall I’m happy to have been able to recover a few points on Sykes after a long game of cat and mouse with him."

"All things considered, I think we couldn’t have asked more. I’m sorry for Marco, he was really unlucky today.”

 On the other side of the garage, Melandri had a more difficult day as he was forced to retire from the lead with four laps remaining

. Putting in a stunning qualifying time this morning, the Italian continued to improve his pace throughout the day and dominated proceedings in the race. However a problem with his bike saw him pull over at turn one and retire from the race.

Disappointed to have lost out, he hopes to improve tomorrow: “Today we probably rode our best race of the year, I felt as strong as ever. With a less bumpy track, we didn’t struggle with stability under acceleration and thus we were able to use a setup tailored towards corner speed."

"I was able to push to the limit without going past it. I can’t say whether we would have won or not, because it wasn’t over, but for sure we were ready to have a go at it until the very end. It’s a shame we lost such a great chance, but tomorrow we’ll give our best to take back what we’ve lost today.”

At the Spanish Round it was triple World Champion Jonathan Rea who took the victory in Race 2 on Sunday to complete a fine weekend at the Circuito de Jerez.

A commanding performance in a restarted WorldSBK race at the resurfaced 4.423km Spanish track gave Rea maximum points - as he was joined on the podium by Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies.

Northern Irishman Rea therefore notched a double win at a venue where he had not previously scored a victory before the Round 12 weekend, the KRT man riding in a confident and relaxed manner having wrapped up an unprecedented third successive title three weeks ago in France.

Rea went from ninth on the grid to first place by the end of the first lap, overtaking Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) cleanly at the second attempt to remain at the front from early in lap 2.

Rea did not look back from there and crossed the line 2.7s seconds ahead of Melandri, who got the better of his teammate Davies in the final stages of the race. The result gave Kawasaki the 2017 WorldSBK Manufacturers’ title.

There were good battles throughout the field behind the front runners with Alex Lowes finishing fourth and Tom Sykes fifth. Van der Mark was sixth after leading on the first lap and having had a clash with Melandri early in the race.

Xavi Fores was seventh, after a good battle with 2014 World Champion Sylvain Guintoli - who returned to action on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR this weekend. Frenchman Guintoli will also ride for Kawasaki Puccetti Racing at the final round of the season in Qatar next month. Leandro Mercado and Jordi Torres  completed the top ten.

Davide Giugliano (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) was given a ride through penalty after speeding in pit lane having been forced to return to his garage due to an issue midrace. He eventually finished 17th, after suffering a DNF on Saturday. Lorenzo Savadori was 18^th after he crashed out on the first lap of the restarted race.

A red flag had been shown after first lap incidents in the initial race, which saw Davies and Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) both down at turn two and then Dominic Schmitter needing assistance from medical staff at trackside after crashing heavily on the Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Davies’ team worked hard as the riders prepared for a restart 20 minutes after the original race had begun, with the Ducati Panigale R requiring some quick repairs in order for the Welshman to return to the starting grid for the second getaway.

Laverty was also due on the grid for the restart however he had to return to pit lane for another tweak to his Aprilia RSV4 RF just before the second start - as his tough season continued. He eventually restarted from pit lane and was ultimately unable to finish the shortened 19 lap second race.

The last round of the 2017 WorldSBK – the Acerbis Qatar Round – takes place from Thursday 2^nd November to Saturday 4^th November, under the floodlights in the desert at the Losail International Circuit.

2017 WorldSBK Champion Jonathan Rea took his first victory around the Circuito de Jerez in Race One, as the Brit gave his all on board the Kawasaki ZX-10RR.

Starting from the front row in Southern Spain, the 30 year old was able to get a solid start and was up in the battle for the lead in the opening laps. However Italian Marco Melandri put in an early lead and was a hard man to catch, but Rea didn’t give up and was chasing down the Panigale.

A mechanical issue meant Melandri was forced out of the race and Rea was able to cruise to the victory in dominant style.

“I feel really fantastic,” Rea began. “I gave more than 100%. I was over the limit so many times with front and rear slides and small moments."

"It was a really nice race for me as Marco was a setting a nice pace, and as I started to hunt him down and I was thinking to pull off the gas."

"But I have so much support here, so I pushed for them and unfortunately he retired, and I’m really sorry for him, as he rode even better than me." He added

"He was so consistent, and he deserved to be here in Parc Ferme."