PORTIMAO, Portugal – Jonathan Rea continued his domination of the Algarve Int’l Circuit with his eighth-straight World Superbike victory at the track Saturday.
Rea started from the pole and rocketed away as the battle was on behind him. Ducati teammates Chaz Davies and Alvaro Bautista found themselves in a battle for position, with Davies rooting his way under Bautista entering the first corner.
Bautista was forced to sit up to avoid disaster as he lightly clipped the Yamaha of Alex Lowes, a move that dropped him back to 18th in the field.
Rea held serve in the opening laps as Tom Sykes found himself in second for BMW, followed by Rea’s teammate Leon Haslam. Davies and Michael van der Mark soon dispatched Haslam, dropping him from third to fifth.
By lap five Davies moved into second as Sykes found himself dropping quickly through the field and out of contention. He soon crashed in turn 13, taking him out of contention for a top-10 finish.
While all that was going on behind him, Rea built a comfortable lead and was untouched on his way to his 10th victory of the season to extend his championship lead.
Davies finished second, more than three seconds behind Rea at the checkered flag. Van der Mark finished third to complete the podium. Bautista recovered to finish fourth, with Haslam finishing fifth.