Torres took his maiden world superbike victory in the first race while, in the final corner of the second, Haslam edged ahead of Chaz Davies for his second win of the season and fifth of his career. Here he leads the 2015 World Superbike champion, Kawasaki star Jonathan Rea.
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Sykes took the final spot on the podium in third, while Davies held off the Honda of Michael van der Mark in a close battle for fourth.
Xavi Fores (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) did not compete in race 2 after withdrawing through illness while Alex Lowes retired his Voltcom Crescent Suzuki at the end of the opening lap.
Sykes then fell prey to Torres at the first corner with six laps to go, before the Spaniard repeated the move on Rea on the following lap.
Indeed, having finished a fairly distant fourth and sixth earlier in the evening, Davies and Haslam didn’t appear to be the likeliest of candidates to forge forward, but by lap two they were running first and third, split by Rea.
Rea had pushed Torres, who led with five laps remaining, intensely in the first race and finished second only by 0.726seconds.
From there on in, Davies looked in control with his Panigale leading the way for a number of the 17 race laps but each time the leaders went down the front straight at Losail, Haslam’s superior speed was giving him the advantage every time although the Derbyshire rider was struggling to get the bike stopped and turned in on time. Taking the race win it was American Kyle Smith (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) ahead of the newly crowned World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Italian Lorenzo Zanetti with the MV Agusta Reparto Corse team.
Haslam proceeded to relieve Rea of second on lap five, but the Ulsterman’s race wouldn’t last much longer anyway when his Kawasaki developed a problem.
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Chasing his British counterpart hard towards the end of the lap, Haslam’s pressure forced Davies into out-braking himself on the final turn, which allowed the Aprilia rider to get through on the exit and blast the rapid RSV4 onwards to a memorable victory under the floodlights in Qatar. Once Davies was dispensed with, Jordi was up to third but three seconds separated him from the seemingly dominant Kawasakis.
