Buriram WSBK: Rea beats Sykes to take third straight win

The Northern Irishman spent the majority of the race second behind Sykes, and made a late overtake to continue being the only WSBK race winner at Buriram.

Pole-sitter Michael van der Mark lost ground in the beginning of the race, falling behind the Kawasakis as well as Chaz Davies on the opening lap.

He fought back to take third from the Ducati rider and started to put pressure on the leading duo, only to run wide and lose ground.

The Dutchman failed to make up the time afterwards, allowing Sykes and Rea to fight it out for the win.

Although a mistake from the reigning champion gave Sykes breathing space for a couple of laps, Rea was back all over his teammate and eventually made a move with five laps to go.

No further drama for Rea allowed him to take the chequered flag first for the third time in as many races, with Sykes securing his first podium of the season.

Van der Mark ended up third, while his teammate Nicky Hayden was forced to retire with engine problems.

Failing to keep up with the top three, Davies had to keep teammate Davide Giugliano at bay and secured fourth after the Italian crashed out late on.

Markus Reiterberger (Althea BMW) secured fifth as a result, the rookie edging ahead of the Yamahas of Alex Lowes and Sylvain Guintoli.

The second Althea BMW of Jordi Torres took eighth, having overtaken the Ioda Aprilias of MotoGP convert Alex de Angelis and reigning FIM Superstock 1000 champion Lorenzo Savadori.

Race 1 results:

Pos.	Driver	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	31'32.311
2	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki	0.222
3	Michael van der Mark	Honda	9.623
4	Chaz Davies	Ducati	17.167
5	Markus Reiterberger	BMW	18.894
6	Alex Lowes	Yamaha	20.754
7	Sylvain Guintoli	Yamaha	24.221
8	Jordi Torres	BMW	31.064
9	Alex de Angelis	Aprilia	34.348
10	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	34.479
11	Leon Camier	MV Agusta	37.013
12	Roman Ramos	Kawasaki	41.113
13	Matteo Baiocco	Ducati	44.369
14	Xavi Fores	Ducati	45.053
15	Josh Brookes	BMW	51.939
16	Sylvain Barrier	Kawasaki	54.314
17	Saeed Al Sulaiti	Kawasaki	1'06.541
18	Davide Giugliano	Ducati	1'09.530
19	Dominic Schmitter	Kawasaki	1'40.904
20	Peter Sebestyen	Yamaha	1 Lap
21	Shustchai Kaewjaturaporn	Kawasaki	1 Lap
22	Imre Toth	Yamaha	1 Lap
23	Anucha Nakcharoensri	Yamaha	3 Laps
Ret	Karel Abraham	BMW
Ret	Nicky Hayden	Honda