WorldSBK: Jonathan Rea wins race one at Phillip Island

After twenty two laps of mixed conditions Jonathan Rea wins the opening race of the weekend at Phillip Island

Alvaro Bautista claimed his second Superpole pole position of 2022 as he started from pole for race one. Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes started on the front row in second and third with the Spaniard.

Bautista lead into turn one after a rocket of a start from the grid. Toprak Razgatlioglu slotted into second place with Rea losing a position as he dropped into third.

At the start of lap two Rea threw a late move into turn one on Razgatlioglu. The Northern Irishman ran off of the track and rejoined back down in third place. Rea got passed Razgatlioglu properly at the start of lap three as he took second. However, in four corners time Rea pounced on Bautista and took the lead of the race.

On lap four both Razgatlioglu and Lowes were lining up Bautista on lap four. By the half way point of the lap both Razgatlioglu and Lowes and relegated Bautista back down to fourth place.

On lap five of the race the track began to dry out and Phillip Island threw a massive curve ball!

Lap seven saw both Rea and Lowes got passed Razgatlioglu. It was a Kawasaki 1-2 at Phillip Island as the Yamaha dropped back down to third place. Lowes took the lead off of Rea as he went around the outside at the start of lap eight.

Lap nine saw riders decide to go into the pits to swap from wet tyres to slick tyres. This decision was clearly correct as they began to lap faster than the leaders.

On lap 11 both Rea and Razgatlioglu decided to dive into the pits, at what seemed to be the perfect time.

Bautista came into the pits on lap 12 but Lowes stayed out on the track as he led the race. However, with Bautista pitting it was a Brit 1-2-3 with Lowes leading from Scott Redding and Kyle Smith!

On lap 14 Kyle Smith took a short lived lead of a World Superbike race! However, he was quickly relegated back to sixth place by Rea, Razgatlioglu, Lowes, Bautista and Andrea Locatelli.

With five laps left of the race it was Rea leading from Razgatlioglu and Lowes. Locatelli put Bautista back down to fifth place as the Italian rider made his way into fourth.

With two laps to go Michael van der Mark threw his BMW into the gravel at the Miller hairpin. The Dutch rider was still on intermediate tyres, but walked away from the crash.

Jonathan Rea crosses the line to take his first victory in 24 races! Razgatlioglu and and Lowes round out the opening podium of the weekend. At the end of all of the drama Smith took his Kawasaki to 12th place after not pitting for slick tyres.

Images from Worldsbk.com