Jonathan Rea holds off Tom Sykes for race one victory at Laguna Seca

ByPA Sport

Updated 10/07/2016 at 11:59 GMT

Jonathan Rea strengthened his hold on the Superbike World Championship title race with a first victory at Laguna Seca in race one ahead of Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes.

Jonathan Rea finished on top at Laguna Seca

Image credit: PA Sport

The Northern Irish held Sykes off over the final six laps of the race and the defending champion now has advantage of 71 points over his team-mate.

Rea was handed the lead on lap six of the race when Chaz Davies crashed out but he ran wide at the Corkscrew allowing Sykes to pull ahead.

But Rea recovered his composure and slowly reeled Sykes in before passing him with six laps to go and held him off to complete his maiden win at the track.

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Honda's Nicky Hayden completed the podium in third place, while his Honda team-mate Michael van der Mark crossed the line in fourth despite starting from 11th on the grid.

Alex Lowes followed them home in fifth with rookie Lorenzo Savadori turning in an impressive display to finish sixth ahead of Xavi Fores and Jordi Torres.

Alex De Angelis and Niccolo Canepa rounded out the top 10.