Image: Supplied.

In a Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) outing where pit stop timing proved crucial, Jonathan Rea was victorious in the drying opening race at Phillip Island as Yari Montella took a career-first Supersport World Championship (WorldSSP) victory.

Rea pitted at the same time as second-placed Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx), however, the Turkish rider lost a considerable amount of time in the process and ultimately finished 6.2 seconds behind the number 65.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) completed the race third, leading in the early stages but was the last from the front group to pit and rejoined the track some way back from Rea and Razgatliglu after changing to slicks.

Pata Yamaha with Brixx’s Andrea Locatelli kept Lowes honest and finished the race fourth, with champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) not far behind to complete the top five.

Positions six to 10 were occupied by Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha), Independent rider champion Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), Loris Baz, and Tetsuta Nagashima.

Image: Russell Colvin.

Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) maintained composure to grab his first WorldSSP victory, holding off the charge of pole-sitter Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing) who ultimately crashed out of contention at turn four on the final lap in the wet conditions.

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it – Racing) – who was fastest on Friday –  finished the race a relatively lonely second, 2.706s behind Montella and over three seconds clear of Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in third.

Runner-up in this year’s series, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros WorldSSP Yamaha Team) took the chequered flag fourth, ahead of world champion Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) as Oli Bayliss (Barni Spark Racing Team) scored four points in P12. Caricasulo was able to remount and conclude the outing in seventh.

Detailed results