World Superbikes: Rea finishes second behind Redding in Navarra opener

Rea is a six-time World Superbike championship winner

Jonathan Rea finished second behind Scott Redding in the first feature World Superbike race of the weekend at the Navarra circuit in northern Spain.

Redding led into the first corner but Rea moved past him into the lead, before the English rider hit the front and extended his lead to the flag.

The Ducati rider's winning margin was 2.5 seconds, with Toprak Razgatlioglu a further three seconds back in third.

Rea leads Razgatlioglu by seven points going into Sunday's two races.

Northern Irishman Rea occupied pole position for the race by emerging fastest from the Superpole session for the seventh consecutive round this season.

The Kawasaki rider was involved in a battle with Redding at the front but ultimately was unable to keep with the pace of his rival, the 2019 British Superbike champion.

After he had been overtaken by Redding six laps into the race, Rea's cause was not helped by a couple of errors into Turn Nine.

Just a few laps in, the 34-year-old six-time champion had a big moment before running wide on Lap 15, losing a total of around two seconds to his rival.

Yamaha-mounted Razgatlioglu quickly made his way through the field to clinch a podium spot after starting from a relatively lowly eighth place on the grid.

In-form Italian Andrea Locatelli was fourth after being passed by team-mate Razgatlioglu on lap seven, with Rea's Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes and his compatriot, Tom Sykes on his BMW, making up the top six leaderboard.

Redding's fourth win of the season and his second in a row came just days after he revealed that he would be leaving the factory Aruba Ducati team to ride for BMW next year, with Spaniard Alvaro Bautista assuming his seat with the Italian manufacturer.

Redding's career total of World Superbike victories now stands at nine and he trails series leader Rea by 45 points.

The Navarra circuit is one of a number of new venues which have been added to the World Superbike calendar for 2021.

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