Australian WSB: Rea draws first blood after hard fought battle

Jonathan Rea has drawn first blood in the opening round of the 2015 World Superbike championship, after coming out on top of a hard fought battle between fellow Brits Leon Haslam and Chaz Davies.

Pole man Rea was the early leader, and indeed led every lap over the line, only allowing Leon Haslam to lead for half a lap until a huge 130mph excursion onto the grass dropped the Aprilia rider back into fourth, behind teammate Jordi Torres.

But the Derbyshire man was able to push back through, setting up an epic last lap duel between the three Brits. Rea, however, came out on top, to take victory on his Kawasaki debut.

Speaking afterwards, Rea admitted that he had ignored orders from his team!

“It was one of those races where I made a deal with my crew chief not to lead any laps! When I found myself there I just kept calm and cool, and ws able to keep up a good pace. Kawasaki have given me a package I can win on right from the start.”

Torres was a strong fourth on his superbike debut, ahead of fellow newcomer Michael van der Mark, who pulled a hard move on Rea’s teammate Tom Sykes in the early stages to demote the 2013 champion back to tenth, before eventually recovering to sixth behind the Dutchman.

Reigning world champion Sylvain Guintoli, still recovering from a Jerez testing crash, was seventh on his Honda debut, ahead of fellow world champion and WSBK newcomer Nico Terol. Alex Lowes and Leon Camier were ninth and tenth to make it six Brits in the top ten.

Returning champion Troy Bayliss, deputising for the injured Davide Guigliano on the factory Ducati, was thirteenth at the flag, but only after running in the top ten for much of the race.