Source: Supplied.

The second round of the 2017 Motul Superbike World Championship concluded with another superb victory for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) on Sunday at the Chang International Circuit.

As Rea rallied to the front and kept his perfect season in tact, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) were also on the podium.

In a restarted fourth race of the season, Rea took a brilliant win by just over four seconds from Sykes, who made it a Kawasaki 1-2 with a last lap move on Melandri.

In the original Sunday race a big crash for Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) at turn 12 just after a technical fault saw the red flag come out due to track conditions, with debris left on track by the Italian’s accident.

After a quick restart procedure the riders did battle over 16 laps, with Rea taking control as he got away from the front of the grid, which was based on the positions at the end of the fourth lap of the earlier curtailed race.

In the first race start Rea had shot up from ninth on the grid to soon contest the lead with Melandri who had started well from pole, with the world champion taking over from the Italian at the front on the fourth lap. After the race restart Melandri could not hold Rea back with the Kawasaki man charging away as the laps progressed.

Thanks to a perfect start to 2017 defending champion Rea now leads the championship by 30 points from Davies, ahead of the third round of the season at Aragon in three weeks time.

Meanwhile, the Motul Thai Round was a successful weekend for Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) who finished Sunday’s race six seconds off the podium in fourth. Spaniard Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) followed the Englishman across the line for fifth.

A solid performance by Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) after the restart saw him fight through the pack from 19th to eventually finish sixth, having gone down on lap three at the third corner in the initial race, losing the front-end and rejoining at the back of the field.

Nicky Hayden (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team), Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team), Roman Ramos (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) and Markus Reiterberger (Althea BMW Racing Team) completed the top 10.

In a dramatic and incident-packed World Supersport race at the Motul Thai Round on Sunday it was Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) who took a superb win in the heat, with Thai wild card Decha Kraisart (Yamaha Thailand Racing Team) and Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing) also on the podium.

Late drama saw Kyle Smith (GEMAR Team Lorini) in the hunt for the victory but the Honda rider was disqualified on the last lap for failing to react to a ride through, after an earlier penalty in which he was requested to concede three positions due to unsporting behaviour.

Caricasulo took advantage for a great win by 0.793s from the impressive Kraisart, with 2016 sensation Tuuli three seconds behind the race winner in third.

Caricasulo had taken over the lead with seven laps to go, with the leader up until that point Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) retiring from the race seconds later due to a technical fault having led from pole from the start.

Thai rider Thitipong Warokorn (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) produced a superb result in fourth place, riding as a substitute for injured world champion Kenan Sofuoglu, who is expected to return to action at round three in Spain. Fellow Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Kyle Ryde was fifth.

Also in the top 10 were Hikari Okubo (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda), Sheridan Morais (Kallio Racing), Australia’s Aiden Wagner (GEMAR Team Lorini), Kazuki Watanabe (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) and Robin Mulhauser (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda). Lachlan Epis (Response RE Racing) finished 12th.

The opening round of the Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup was also contested on the weekend, with both races won by Deniz Oncu. Australia’s Reid Battye went 17-14 across the weekend.