Image: Russell Colvin.

Northern Ireland’s Eugene Laverty has produced a masterful performance to win the opening World Superbike race at Phillip Island this afternoon.

After completing lap one in seventh and nearly five seconds down on the leader, Laverty put his head down and carved his way through the pack with speed and precision, finally hitting the lead on lap 17 and going on to win by nearly three seconds.

It was Suzuki’s first World Superbike victory since 2010, and Laverty’s second at Phillip Island. The win also marked his third consecutive following last year’s season finale at Jerez.

Factory Aprilia pairing Marco Melandri and long-time race leader Sylvain Guintoli – he held the station for the opening 16 laps – flashed across the finish line in second and third, while Ducati’s Davide Guigliano (Ducati) faded to finish fourth after spending the majority of the race in the top three.

Loris Baz (Kawasaki) finally got the better of a race-long scrap with Jonathan Rea (Honda), while world champion Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) started his campaign in seventh.

Chaz Davies (Ducati) was a lonely eighth in the 22-lapper, and also set a new lap record of 1m30.949 on lap two, eclipsing Laverty’s 1:31.168 from 2013.

Dual Australian Superbike Champion Glenn Allerton starred with 11th overall and third of the EVO runners – challenging factory Kawasaki rider David Salon and Italian Niccolo Canepa (Ducati) throughout the 22-lap affair.

Allerton stormed through the field in the early stages from his 19th starting position, latching onto Salom and Canepa and remaining within half a second of the highly credentialled duo for much of the race.

The result improved upon Allerton’s previous best of 12th at Phillip Island one year ago.

Casualties in race one included rookie Alex Lowes (Suzuki), Toni Elias (Aprilia) and Leon Haslam (Honda), who all crashed at high speed within the opening five laps.

Race two will take place this afternoon at 2:40pm.

2014 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round one – Phillip Island, VIC

Superbike race one results:
1. Eugene Laverty
2. Marco Melandri +2.959s
3. Sylvain Guintoli +3.034s
4. Davide Giugliano +6.972s
5. Loris Baz +11.132s
6. Jonathan Rea +11.718s
7. Tom Sykes +15.612s
8. Chaz Davies +25.724s
9. David Salom +37.407s (EVO)
10. Niccolo Canepa +37.468s (EVO)
11. Glenn Allerton (AUS) +39.271s (EVO)

Click here for detailed results