World Superbike, Navarra, Spain - Race Results (1)

Scott Redding has won the first ever World Superbike race held at the Navarra circuit in Spain, the Ducati rider swapping the lead with Jonathan Rea before breaking clear of the reigning six-time world champion.

Redding - newly confirmed as joining BMW next season - snatched the holeshot from pole starter Rea into turn one, only for the Kawasaki star to retaliate a few corners later.

But Rea couldn’t shake off the Englishman and, after the pair pulled clear of the pack, Redding slipstreamed back into the lead on the home straight with 18 of 23 laps to go.

The scorching heat meant tyre endurance was expected to be a significant factor in the second half of the race and Redding was aided by several moments for Rea at Turn 9, the end of the back straight, as he edged away to celebrate his fourth win of the season.

Starting just eighth on the grid, Rea's closest title rival Toprak Razgatlioglu rose to fourth during a strong opening lap, only for his progress to stall behind Yamaha team-mate Andrea Locatelli.

The Turkish star eventually moved into third when the young Italian ran wide, but Rea and Redding were already several seconds clear – a gap Razgatlioglu was unable to close and his attention later turned to confirming the final rostrum place from Locatelli.

Rea thus increased his title lead from three to seven points over Razgatlioglu heading into Sunday's races, with Redding now 45 points from the top.

After qualifying a strong fifth, Chaz Davies was embroiled in a close fight with Alex Lowes and Tom Sykes to repeat that position when he fell just before mid-distance.

Lowes went on to claim fifth position, ahead of the BMWs of Sykes and Michael van der Mark, with Axel Bassani, Garrett Gerloff and Michael Rinaldi completing the top ten.

Honda's Alvaro Bautista - hotly tipped to take over Redding's vacant Ducati seat for 2022 - fell at almost the same time as Davies, joining the Welshman, Luca Mahias and Tati Mercado on the DNF list...