KAWASAKI Racing’s Jonathan Rea has won the first ever World Superbike race to be held in Thailand.

Rea dominated the 20-lap race at the new Chang International Circuit in Buriram with Aprilia’s Leon Haslam finishing second with Rea’s team-mate Tom Sykes finishing third.

Isle of Man resident Rea built up a 2 second lead over the chasing pack by the end of lap five and won by 6.329s over Haslam.

Former World Superbike Champion Tom Sykes started form the second row and shadowed his team-mate during the opening few turns before Aprilia’s Haslam began to close the gap to Rea – eventually both pulled away from the following pack.

Sykes was involved in a battle for third for Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Alex Lowes, Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies and rookie Jordi Torres. However, Davies crashed out of 5th at the end of the 9th lap, but was able to remount to finally finish in 11th.

Lowes dropped out of podium contention at the final turn on lap 13 whilst Sykes and Torres still fought for the final podium position.

Rea finished race one with a 5-point advantage in the Championship standings with Haslam crossing the line 1.9s ahead of Sykes and Torres completing the top four.

Pata Honda’s Sylvain Guikntoli finished a lonely race in 5th ahead of Alex Lowes who managed to finish in sixth.

Finshing out of the top six were Matteo Baiocco, former World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss, David Salom and Leandro Mercado after a race-long battle.

Both Lowes and Bayliss have been penalised after race one and have been dropped one position as they overtook under yellow flags on lap 14. 

Race one results:

1. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing
2. Leon Haslam GBR Red Devils Roma Aprilia (+6.329)
3. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing (+8.163) 
4. Jordi Torres ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia (+8.513)
5. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Honda World Superbike (+20.502) 
6. Matteo Baiocco ITA Althea Ducati (+26.118)
7. Alex Lowes GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki (+22.249) [penalised]
8. David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki (+27.925)
9. Troy Bayliss AUS Aruba.it Racing Ducati (+27.174) [penalised]
10. Leandro Mercado ARG Barni Ducati (+32.610)
11. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati (+37.330) 
12. Nico Terol ESP Althea Ducati (+37.902)
13. Randy de Puniet FRA Voltcom Crescent Suzuki (+41.722)
14. Sylvain Barrier FRA BMW Italia S1000RR (+50.099)
15. Roman Ramos ESP GO Eleven Kawasaki (+59.457) 
16. Greg Gildenhuys RSA Pedercini Kawasaki (+1:20.519)
17. Santiago Barragan ESP Grillini Kawasaki (+1:20.931)
18. Imre Toth HUN Team Toth BMW (+1 lap)
19. Ireneusz Sikora POL Team Toth BMW (+1 lap) 

DNF. Larry Pegram USA Team Hero EBR
DNF. Anucha Nakcharoensri THA YSS TS Honda
DNF. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Honda World Superbike
DNF. Christophe Ponsson LUX Grillini Kawasaki
DNF. Niccolo Canepa ITA Team Hero EBR
DNF. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta F4 RR
DNF. Chanon Chumjai THA RAC Oil BMW