SBK, Laguna Seca, Race1: Rea unstoppable

It was one of the few tracks at which Jonathan Rea had never scored a win. And he's not been short of wins... it's just that the races at Laguna had never come together until now. Today though, after a great battle with his team-mate Tom Sykes, he can finally tick Laguna Seca off his list.

It was by no means an easy task for Johnny though. The fight with Tom Sykes was a touch one, with the Huddersfield rider getting away well from pole with the aim of stopping his team-mate/rival. 71 points separate them and for Tom, who has no intention of giving way to Rea's power, the road continues to get harder.

On the other side of the coin, it was a day to forget for Ducati. Today, in a race in which there were (slim) hopes of making up ground in the championship, both Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano threw away what could have been significant results. Chaz, while leading the race, made a mistake in braking and found himself in the sand just four laps in. The same went for Davide, who crashed out after having kept pace with the two Kawasakis for the first half of the race. There's time to make up for it in Race 2 but it won't be easy.

Nicky Hayden showed both his determination and his experience on the Californian track where he's always gone well in the past. After winning at Sepang, he brought his Honda home in third place after a great battle with Alex Lowes and VD Mark.

Behind this trio was the Aprilia of Lorenzo Savadori. The fact he's not raced at Laguna before makes the result even more significant, he closed a little over 8 tenths behind Hayden in third. The Italian was followed across the line by Xavi Forés and Jordi Torres, seventh and eighth, ahead of Alex De Angelis and Niccolò Canepa. A race to forget for Raffaele De Rosa who crashed out after 13 laps.