In his 150th World Superbike start Jonathan Rea secured his third double victory of 2015 to mark the most dominant start to a season in recent memory.

After fending off early pressure from team-mate Tom Sykes, Rea coasted home for his second double victory at Imola in as many years in a race which saw championship challengers Leon Haslam and Chaz Davies falter.

Haslam crashed at turn two on lap nine while Davies’ Ducati Panigale expired for the second time while holding a safe third place to give Rea an imperious 83 point lead in the championship.

A race of attrition that saw just 13 riders finish, Jordi Torres took advantage of the misfortune of others to claim his first podium in the class on his very first visit to the challenging 3 mile Italian track.

With Sykes pushing Rea all the way in the shortened first encounter of the day a repeat battle looked as though it was going to play out in front of the sun baked grandstands.

Starting from the outside of the front row, Rea got the jump to brilliantly move past Sykes at turn one as the field scarpered for position the first time around.

Behind were the Aruba.it Racing Ducatis of Davies and Giugliano and the Red Devils Aprilias of Haslam and Torres. Reigning world champion Sylvain Guintoli crashed out at Acque Minerali to compound a trying weekend for the Pata Honda squad.

By lap six Rea had a 0.4s advantage and a cat-and-mouse scrap played out between the Kawasaki teamsters until the twelfth lap, when the Northern Irishman gapped his team-mate by a critical six tenths of a second.

From there he was able to coast home over four seconds clear of Sykes, who posted his first double podium finish of the year.

To underline the dominance of both Kawasaki runners Torres finished 26 seconds in arrears of the race winner after catching and passing the tiring Davide Giugliano at midrace distance.

That move came after Torres had made his way past Haslam whose difficult weekend got worse when he dropped behind the fast-starting Michael van der Mark.

Haslam’s eagerness to get back by was all-too apparent however, as he barged the Dutchman into the gravel at Rivazza with a questionable out-braking move. As van der Mark fell Haslam’s race lasted a further 30 seconds, the Englishman falling out of contention at turn two.

Although unable to get up right away, Haslam eventually got to his feet, albeit gingerly holding his right wrist.

Behind Giugliano in fourth, Ayrton Badovini headed Matteo Baiocco, who gapped Roman Ramos in the closing stages of the race to come home sixth. Leandro Mercado couldn’t repeat his strong showing in the first part of race one and ended the race eighth.

Michel Fabrizio, deputising for the injured Nico Terol, got the better of Alex Lowes for ninth place.

Results from WSBK round five at Imola, Italy.

RACE ONE:

1. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 6 laps
2. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R +0.482s
3. Davide Giugliano ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R +3.945s
4. Leon Haslam GBR Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 +7.455s
5. Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Honda CBR1000RR +11.925s
6. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR +12.074s
7. Leandro Mercado ARG Barni Ducati 1199R +12.789s
8. Matteo Baiocco ITA Althea Ducati 1199R +13.712s
9. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Honda CBR1000RR +13.863s
10. Michel Fabrizio ITA Althea Ducati 1199R +14.637s
11. Roman Ramos ESP GO Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10R+16.990s
12. Alex Lowes GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 +21.123s
13. Santiago Barragan ESP Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R +32.443s
14. Christophe Ponsson FRA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +32.977s
15. Imre Toth HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR +39.711
16. Gabor Rizmayer HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR +40.821
RT. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta F4 RR 3 laps

Did not make the restart

David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R
Jordi Torres ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4
Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R
Randy de Puniet FRA Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000

RACE TWO:

1. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R 19 laps
2. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R ++4.399s
3. Jordi Torres ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 +26.020s
4. Davide Giugliano ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R +30.853s
5. Ayrton Badovini ITA BMW Italia S1000RR +35.379s
6. Matteo Baiocco ITA Althea Ducati 1199R +38.818s
7. Roman Ramos ESP GO Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10R+40.663s
8. Leandro Mercado ARG Barni Ducati 1199R +42.067s
9. Michel Fabrizio ITA Althea Ducati 1199R +55.722s
10. Alex Lowes GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 +56.990s
11. Santiago Barragan ESP Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R +89.613s
12. Imre Toth HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR + 1 lap
13. Gabor Rizmayer HUN Team Toth BMW S1000RR + 1 lap

Did not finish

Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati 1199R 5 laps
Leon Haslam GBR Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 11 laps
Michael van der Mark NED PATA Honda CBR1000RR 11 laps
Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta F4 RR 14 laps
Randy de Puniet FRA Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000 15 laps
Christophe Ponsson FRA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 16 laps
Sylvain Guintoli FRA PATA Honda CBR1000RR 19 laps

Did not start

David Salom ESP Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R
Niccolo Canepa ITA Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10R

World Championship standings after round five of 13: