Tom Sykes eased to his first World Superbike win of & the 2018 season, while teammate Jonathan Rea beat home hero Michael van & der Mark to second as the Aruba Ducatis struggled.

Poleman Sykes repelled Barni Ducati's Xavi Fores to take the holeshot at the start, while van der Mark and Saturday race winner Rea cut through from row three to complete the top five on the opening lap.

The charging van der Mark and Rea cut through on Marc Melandri at the end of lap one, the Italian forced to run through the final chicane, dropping him to eighth, while an error at Turn 1 then saw him fall further back to 10th.

Sykes' advantage had extended to well over a second over Fores, with it opening out to three seconds when Rea launched a daring raid of the customer Ducati rider at the Ramshoek to take second on lap four.

Van der Mark demoted the Spaniard to fourth at the chicane, and shadowed Rea for the next eight laps until the KRT rider ran wide at the final chicane and allowed the Yamaha man to move through.

Rea launched a failed retaliation at Turn 1 a lap later, but reclaimed the position at Turn 5 and proceeded to build up a two-second advantage over the Yamaha over the final laps.

Ahead, Sykes cruised across the line to take his first win since Misano last year, while Rea and van der Mark held station to complete the podium, with Fores the top Ducati runner at the chequered flag in a distant fourth.

Chaz Davies started from row three along with Rea and van der Mark, but a mistake at the first turn on the opening lap left him with work to do.

The Welshman managed to cut his way through to fifth, but his pace dropped dramatically in the closing stages as he encountered an issue with his Panigale.

He still made it across the line in fifth ahead of MV Agusta's Jordi Torres and his Aruba Ducati teammate Marco Melandri, while Toprak Razgatlioglu held Lorenzo Savadori at bay to finish ninth.

Alex Lowes ran with his Yamaha teammate van der Mark and Rea in the early stages, but a crash at the chicane midway through ended his hopes of a rostrum.

The Briton was able to remount and got the finish in 14th. Leandro Mercado and Roman Ramos also crashed, but were unable to return to the action.

Race results:

Source:motorsport.com
Photo:worldsbk.com

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