---
title: "Rea cruises to race one win in Thailand"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2017/03/11/rea-cruises-race-one-win-thailand/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "SBK"
published: "2017-03-11T09:52:17Z"
modified: "2017-03-11T09:52:35Z"
---

# Rea cruises to race one win in Thailand

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea extends his leads in the championship after taking a dominant victory in the opening race of the Thailand World Superbike round.

The Northern Irishman has been clear favourite since practice, particularly after FP2 on Friday after he put in a metronomic 19-lap run. Blitzing the lap record on his way to pole earlier in the day also did nothing remove his favourite status.

![Robert Cianflone/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/645125252.jpg)

At the start, Rea nailed the launch, with Ducati’s Marco Melandri getting away well from third on the grid. The Italian proved to be a brief challenger to Rea’s lead, but only for the best part of two laps before the Kawasaki man pulled the pin.

Smashing the race lap record twice in the space three laps, Rea and his ZX-10RR cruised off into the sunset for his fourth victory at the Chang International Circuit and his third of 2017.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/645170816.jpg)

Chaz Davies’ hopes of a first win of the season faded almost immediately after he got stuck behind the second KRT bike of Tom Sykes. Once finally clear on lap four, with a hard move at Turn 7 for good measure, he set his sights on team-mate Melandri.

A mistake from the Italian at mid-distance allowed Davies to creep right onto the back of him, and Melandri dropped behind just a few laps later.

Sykes put on a late charge for the rostrum, and managed to mug Melandri into the final corner for third to limit the damage inflicted by Rea. Fourth for Melandri does, however, mean he’ll start tomorrow’s second race from pole.

Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark led home Alex Lowes in fifth, with BMW’s Jordi Torres repelling the advances of MV Agusta’s Leon Camier for seventh.

Nicky Hayden was a factor in the battle for the top seven, but the American hit tyre troubles in the latter stages and faded to ninth. Stefan Bradl completed the top 10 on the sister Honda.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/645443820.jpg)

Xavi narrowly missed out on 10th after a difficult afternoon on his Barni Ducati, while Randy Krummenacher, Lorenzo Savadori, Markus Reiterberger and Roman Ramos founded out the points paying positions.

Eugene Laverty heartbreakingly dropped out of the race on the final lap whilst running in a strong seventh on his Milwaukee Aprilia. He joined Ayrton Badovini on the sidelines.

![](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/2017-03-11-2-1.png)