Jonathan Rea has won his first race of the season in a riding masterclass in Buriram, Thailand. The Brit battled his team-mate, rival and fellow countryman Tom Sykes during the first laps, but then he opened a huge gap to be in the top step of the podium.
After he got the Pole by smashing the World Superbikes lap record of Buriram, Rea focused on winning, and he did so. Sykes fell down to sixth place after the mentioned duel between the two Kawasaki riders, and then Rea was unbeatable.
The battle for the two remaining steps of the podium heat up the whole race. First, Leon Camier and Xavi Forés fought hard until the sooner made a mistake. The Spaniard took advantadge and claimed second, while Camier was overtaken by Chaz Davies too, falling to fourth in the end. The british Ducati rider started ninth and completed a huge comeback to finish in third position.
Meanwhile, Marco Melandri could not do much to keep the momentum after the two wins at Phillip Island. The Italian finished eigth, and he is now looking for tomorrow’s second heat of the weekend. He is still the championship leader, only two points in front of Rea and nine ahead of Forés. In fact, Forés is the only driver to have finished all the races so far inside the top-4.
Race 4 of the World Superbikes Championship will be live at 11:00 CET.