Laguna WSBK: Rea recovers to win race one as Davies crashes

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea won the opening World Superbike race at Laguna Seca ahead of team-mate Tom Sykes in fine style despite some uncharacteristic mistakes.

Rea held on firmly in the end, winning by a comfortable margin but the champion overshot the Corkscrew on a number of occasions, allowing Sykes to regain a foothold in the race at crucial points.

An eventful race saw the Aruba.it Ducati duo of Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano both crash out of the race in dramatic fashion as the riders were well in position at the time of their unrelated accidents.

The beginning of the 25-lap affair in California saw Rea blast his ZX-10R off the line, appearing to get the holeshot only for Sykes to dive underneath his rival in the middle of Turn 1.

It was a move that forced Rea back momentarily as both Davies and Giugliano duffed him up, the former getting past and into second behind Sykes.

Sykes was under pressure soon after, holding on until lap five when Davies made his move to take the lead, only for the Welshman to appear to lose the rear, resulting in the front end folding on him at Turn 6 as his race and championship was left in tatters.

Rea then took the lead on lap six, leading Sykes and beginning to make his chasing team-mate work around the halfway mark of the contest.

As the battle ensued between the two Kawasakis at the front of affairs that allowed Giugliano to pull his Ducati back to the fore, but the Italian found himself in the gravel at the exit of the Corkscrew on lap 12 as Honda’s Nicky Hayden accepted third place.

Rea continued to lead but by lap 15 Sykes was firmly putting the pressure on and one lap later he hit the front at the famous Corkscrew corner as the man leading the race missed the apex.

Sykes stayed at the front until lap 20, when Rea, who had kept up his quest for victory, squeezed through at Turn 2 and the world champion held position before pulling away in the final few laps to take a victory he forced himself to work hard for.

A terrific battle for third place saw Honda’s Michael Van Der Mark shove his Fireblade up the inside of his team-mate in the final turn of the race, but he couldn’t get the bike turned in efficiently as Hayden swooped back through to take a memorable podium at his home round.

Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes, in the fight for the final podium spot for the majority of the race following Giugliano’s tumble, took a fine fifth ahead of Ioda Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori and Barni Racing’s Xavi Fores.

The Althea BMW of Jordi Torres finished eighth as Ioda Aprilia’s Alex DeAngelis and the second Pata Yamaha of Niccolo Canepa rounded out the top ten.

Britain’s Leon Camier finished just outside that, taking 11th on the MV Agusta while reigning BSB champion Josh Brookes was 13th for Milwaukee BMW.