Nicky Hayden claims debut WSBK victory

Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden claimed his debut World Superbike win during a wet race two at Sepang in Malaysia.

The American, whose last world championship race victory came during his title-winning 2006 season, led for almost the entire 16 laps.

But the #69 came under intense late-race pressure from Ducati's Davide Giugliano, also chasing his first WSBK win, who worked his way up the order and was just one-second from the Ten Kate Honda rider on the penultimate lap.

However Hayden held his nerve to cross the finish line 1.2s ahead of Giugliano, with world champion Jonathan Rea completing the podium in third (+3.7s) for Kawasaki.

Hayden's victory - at round six of his 'rookie' WSBK season - makes him the 16th rider to win both a 500cc/MotoGP and WSBK race. It is also the first WSBK win for Honda since 2014.

Rea's closest title rival Chaz Davies slipped from second to fourth (+5.7s) for Ducati, followed by wet weather ace Anthony West (riding for Pedercini Kawasaki his weekend), Hayden's team-mate Michael van der Mark and former MotoGP rider Alex de Angelis (Ioda Aprilia).

Race one winner Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) dropped gradually back from fourth to eighth while Leon Camier (MV Agusta) and Marcus Reiterberger (Althea BMW) completed the top ten.

Pata Yamaha's lone rider Alex Lowes fell and is feared to have suffered a collarbone injury.

Milwaukee BMW's Karel Abraham was the only other rider not to finish, underlining the impressive wet whether grip levels from the new Sepang asphalt.

Rea now leads the championship by an increased 42-points over Davies, with Sykes 70-points adrift heading into their home round at Donington Park.