World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea wins in Aragon to extend series lead

Jonathan Rea has won two of the first five races of the 2018 WSB season

Triple World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea secured his second win of the 2018 season by taking victory in race one at Aragon to extend his lead at the top of the series to 14 points.

Rea finished 1.4 seconds ahead of Chaz Davies, with the Welshman's fellow Ducati riders Xavi Fores and Marco Melandri third and fourth.

The Northern Irishman now has 56 World Superbike wins, three short of Englishman Carl Fogarty's record.

Race two will be held on Sunday.

Rea's previous win of this year's series came in Buriram in round two of the season in Thailand three weeks ago.

The Kawasaki rider is aiming to equal Fogarty's record of four titles - although the Englishman's series successes did not all come in consecutive seasons.

Rea was leading when the initial race was red-flagged with 15 laps to go because of a crash involving Jordi Torres, Leon Camier and Lorenzo Salvadori.

Englishman Camier was treated trackside and was conscious before being taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with "a closed chest injury and a fracture of the posterior ribs 9, 10 and 11 on his left side with a lung contusion".

His condition is described as stable.

The race re-run was reduced by one lap to 17 and although Rea hit the front from the off, he survived a major scare three laps in, almost crashing and allowing Alex Lowes to assume the lead.

Rea overtook the Yamaha rider but Spaniard Fores later enjoyed a spell at the head of proceedings, before Rea took control in the latter stages and pulled away from the chasing pack.

"I out my heart and soul into it, especially into the corners. I was just trying to stay out of trouble and save my tyre a little bit," commented Rea after the race.

Dutchman Michael van der Mark and Tom Sykes completed the top six leaderboard.