Rea usurps Davies at Laguna Seca ahead of Superpole

Laguna Seca WorldSBK - Free Practice Results (3)

Jonathan Rea returned to the top of the World Superbike Championship timesheets during third and final free practice at Laguna Seca, ahead of today’s Superpole and first race.

Having been pipped to Friday’s ‘bragging rights’ by Chaz Davies after the Welshman’s rapid lap in the closing stages of FP2, Rea was back in commanding form aboard the Kawasaki ZX-10RR this morning to put three tenths between himself and the Aruba.it Ducati rider, who retained second despite failing to improve his time.

His team-mate Alvaro Bautista held onto third position, just a tenth further back, while Toprak Razgatlioglu slid down the order initially after a crash at turn eight before returning to the track to take fourth by the chequered flag.

British pair Alex Lowes and Leon Haslam completed the top six, while Jordi Torres popped up in a noteworthy seventh fastest aboard the Pedercini Kawasaki ahead of top BMW rider Tom Sykes, Loris Baz and Leandro Mercado.

Elsewhere, Michael van der Mark seemingly has work to do ahead of qualifying after only setting the 14th quickest lap, even if his Friday effort was enough to keep him 11th on the overall classification.

Superpole takes place today at 19.00 with the first of three WorldSBK races in California this weekend kicks off at 22.00