Reigning World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea took the first race win at Phillip Island this morning but was chased hard by the Ducatis of Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano while young Dutchman Michael Van Der Mark was right in the mix from the moment the lights went out.

Rea bagged the maximum points on the first Saturday race for WSBK but Davies took it down to the wire, going underneath Rea on the brakes in MG on the last lap but the Irishman was able to just get his nose in front as the Welshman asked too much of the front Pirelli and take the run to the line as the Panigale struggled to keep with the four-cylinder Kawasaki down the pit straight.

Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on the final circuit, Giugliano just lost out to Honda’s Van Der Mark for the last podium spot. The two were not shy through the whole 22 laps with Van Der Mark putting in some hard passes into the Southern Loop while Giugliano, like team-mate Davies, favoured Honda corner.

Ex-champion Tom Sykes led away from pole position but Rea swept into the lead into Doohan on lap one. Giugliano also managed to cut in front of the Huddersfield man with Van Der Mark, Davies and the Pata Yamaha of Alex Lowes in tow. Van Der Mark was immediately trying to find his way to the front, taking second straightaway, while Lowes and Davies swapped positions.

Davies got past Lowes and then went under Giugliano on the brakes into Honda while Sykes found his way into second and the stuck it undr Rea for the lead into Doohan corner. Davies tried to push past Rea for second into Doohan but couldn’t make it stick as the top ten were covered by just 1.8s.

While Davies, Giugliano and Van Der Mark fought it out, Rea spent some laps sizing up Sykes and re-took the lead with 15 laps to go, setting up a pass into Doohan while Davies and Van Der Mark traded paint again for third. Giguliano won the battle and followed Rea past Sykes. The Kawasaki rider was then shuffled down to fifth into short order as Nicky Hayden put a move on Sykes.

The fairing banging at the front continued but no-one quite had anything for Rea until Davies’ attempt on the last lap. Sykes struggled most at Honda but held off challenges from Sylvain Guintoli and Lowes - who crashed at the Southern Loop with six laps left. Frenchman Guintoli wrapped up sixth place on the new R1.

Leon Camier put in a consistent and fast pace to net seventh place with the injured Jordi Torres in eighth. Hayden had problems with his rear tyre and dropped back to ninth, one ahead of Milwaukee BMW’s Josh Brookes who completed the top ten after a last-lap crash from Markus Reiterberger.

Phillip Island World Superbike race one - conditions dry

1 3 1 J. REA GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 22 1’31.547 307,7 1’30.170 309,5 25 25 1
2 9 7 C. DAVIES GBR Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Ducati 1199 Panigale R 22 0.063 1’31.540 312,1 1’30.717 305,1 20 20 2
3 6 60 M. VAN DER MARK NED Honda World Superbike Team Honda CBR1000RR SP 22 0.487 1’31.469 315,8 1’30.468 305,9 16 16 3
4 2 34 D. GIUGLIANO ITA Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Ducati 1199 Panigale R 22 0.647 1’31.445 307,7 1’30.098 305,1 13 13 4
5 1 66 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 22 3.429 1’31.603 313,0 1’30.020 305,9 11 11 5
6 4 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 22 3.510 1’31.767 310,3 1’30.281 306,8 10 10 6
7 10 2 L. CAMIER GBR MV Agusta Reparto Corse MV Agusta 1000 F4 22 10.721 1’32.052 304,2 1’30.795 300,8 9 9 7
8 12 81 J. TORRES ESP Althea BMW Racing Team BMW S1000 RR 22 11.539 1’31.812 313,0 1’31.207 311,2 8 8 8
9 7 69 N. HAYDEN USA Honda World Superbike Team Honda CBR1000RR SP 22 15.534 1’31.704 313,0 1’30.479 306,8 7 7 9
10 14 25 J. BROOKES AUS Milwaukee BMW BMW S1000 RR 22 23.239 1’32.237 312,1 1’31.927 305,9 6 6 10
11 17 40 R. RAMOS ESP Team GoEleven Kawasaki ZX-10R 22 23.411 1’32.470 305,9 1’32.194 307,7 5 5 11
12 8 32 L. SAVADORI ITA IodaRacing Team Aprilia RSV4 RF 22 24.012 1’31.865 309,5 1’30.609 311,2 4 4 12
13 16 17 K. ABRAHAM CZE Milwaukee BMW BMW S1000 RR 22 37.281 1’32.792 314,0 1’32.117 306,8 3 3 13
14 21 46 M. JONES AUS Desmo Sport Ducati Ducati 1199 Panigale R 22 44.720 1’32.774 302,5 1’33.722 291,1 2 2 14
15 15 20 S. BARRIER FRA Pedercini Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R 22 46.357 1’32.991 306,8 1’32.077 303,4 1 1 15
16 19 9 D. SCHMITTER SUI Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10R 22 1’08.238 1’34.432 298,3 1’33.664 303,4
17 20 11 S. AL SULAITI QAT Pedercini Racing Kawasaki ZX-10R 22 1’08.299 1’34.179 298,3 1’33.690 288,8
18 22 56 P. SEBESTYÉN HUN Team Tóth Yamaha YZF R1 22 1’30.771 1’34.770 298,3 1’34.346 293,5
19 23 10 I. TÓTH HUN Team Tóth Yamaha YZF R1 21 1 Lap 1’37.360 291,9 1’36.272 295,9
—————————————————————————Not Classified—————————————————————————
RET 11 21 M. REITERBERGER GER Althea BMW Racing Team BMW S1000 RR 21 1 Lap 1’31.940 309,5 1’31.031 307,7
RET 5 22 A. LOWES GBR Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 16 6 Laps 1’31.848 308,6 1’30.354 304,2
RET 13 12 X. FORÉS ESP Barni Racing Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R 11 11 Laps 1’32.417 303,4 1’31.871 300,8
RET 18 15 A. DE ANGELIS RSM IodaRacing Team Aprilia RSV4 RF 3 19 Laps 1’33.192 310,3 1’33.507 308,6