Reigning WorldSBK Champion cruised to the Portimao race one victory this lunchtime but it was disaster for poleman Eugene Laverty as he was taken out by an errant Xavi Fores only two corners into the clash.
Rea had taken the lead from Marco Melandri as the Italian ran wide exiting turn one and Laverty was right in the mix but Fores got his braking all wrong into Lagos corner and slammed into the side of the Milwaukee Aprilia man.
It left Rea unchallenged at the front and he increased his lead over Chaz Davies to 104 points after the heroic Welshman rode through to pain to finish in fourth place after Lorenzo Savadori added insult to his Milwaukee Aprila’s team’s injury by crashing out of a podium position, promoting Michael van der Mark to third.
In winning his 65th WorldSBK race, Rea matched the start number he ran before he earned his first number one plate. He also reached a landmark of 50 wins for Kawasaki since he joined then in 2015.
Melandri finished second, unable to match Rea’s pace but eventually clear of the final podium rider, van der Mark.
With eight laps to go long time third placed rider Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) fell at turn one, promoting van der Mark to third.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) placed fifth, almost 13 seconds behind the win which will be disappointing for the Huddersfield rider, who is still out of contract for next season.
An excellent sixth place for Loris Baz was as much as his privateer Althea BMW team could have expected, as he demoted Jordi Torres (MV Agusta) to seventh late on.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki) scored eighth, with the top ten completed by Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba Racing IT Ducati Junior Team) and a recovering Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) who tangled up in the Fores/Laverty interface.
Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda) was forced to retire while team-mateJake Gagne was 13th and only 14 riders finished of the 20 starters.
