Source: Supplied.

Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea has prevailed in a spectacular season-opening 22-lap World Superbike race at Phillip Island.

The reigning world champion’s third win in a row at Phillip Island – and his fourth victory in the last five races at the Island – came after a titanic scrap with arch-rival Chaz Davies (Ducati) and in front of a myriad of Phillip Island fans who have adopted the Northern Irishman as their own.

In typical Phillip Island style, it all came down to the last lap, with Davies managing to get his nose in front briefly before 30-year-old Rea returned the compliment. Davies then stalked Rea for the remainder of the lap and a valiant effort to draft past the world champion on the final blast down Gardner Straight saw him fall short by just 0.042s.

It was Rea’s 39th WorldSBK win in a resume that continues to grow into legendary status, while Davies’ six-race winning-streak from 2016 has now come to an end.

Sykes flashed across the line 1.050 seconds behind Rea to complete the podium, just holding off the advances of Alex Lowes who produced his most impressive performance in Yamaha colours.

Leon Camier (MV Agusta) and privateer Xavi Fores (Ducati) also produced outstanding efforts to finish in fifth and sixth, with Jordi Torres (BMW), Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) , Michael van der Mark (Yamaha) and rookie Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki) completing the top 10.

Italian Marco Melandri’s return to WorldSBK competition after a two-year absence ended with a crash on lap 15 after leading early on, while Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) was another to go down.

It was a frustrating opening bout for ER Motorsports Yamaha wildcard Josh Brookes, forced to exit the race on lap eight after running as high as 16th a couple of laps prior. He said it appeared to be a blown head gasket that put him out.