Rea on top on return to Laguna Seca

Full WorldSBK FP1 results from Laguna Seca

Jonathan Rea is back on top of the times in World Superbikes during the opening free practice session at Laguna Seca ahead of Marco Melandri.

After a frustrating end to his Brno race weekend last time out when he clashed with Kawasaki teammate Tom Sykes, Rea led throughout FP1 before setting a late fastest lap of 1m 23.393s to initially pull out a healthy advantage on his rivals.

Melandri pegged back Rea’s time gap to less than one-tenth of a second on the Aruba.it Racing Ducati with a final lap of 1m 23.489s in the opening session which saw the pair jump clear of the chasing pack.

Eugene Laverty had a promising start to his Laguna Seca race weekend in third place for Milwaukee Aprilia ahead of Tom Sykes on the factory Kawasaki and Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes, fresh from his maiden series win, rounded out the top five.

Chaz Davies had to settle for sixth place for the factory Ducati squad, running without Michael Ruben Rinaldi due to his European rounds-only contract, with Pata Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark taking seventh place on the times.

Leon Camier continued his progress for Red Bull Honda in eighth place ahead of MV Agusta’s Jordi Torres with American wildcard rider Josh Herrin breaking into the top 10 ahead of the likes of Xavi Fores (Barni Ducati), Jake Gagne (Red Bull Honda), Roman Ramos (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) and Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia).