Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Rea finished 10th in the first World Superbike race of the weekend at the Most circuit in the Czech Republic on Saturday.
The race’s winner BMW-mounted Toprak Razgatlioglu, of Turkey, overtook early leader Nicolo Bulega with 19 laps to go and had six seconds to spare over the Italian Ducati rider at the chequered flag, with Danilo Petrucci a further four seconds adrift in third.
Six-time champion Rea crossed the line 22.6 seconds behind Razgatlioglu to achieve his best result of the season to date.
The 38-year-old missed the first three rounds of the series in Australia, Portugal and the Netherlands as he recovered from a serious injury to his left foot sustained in a crash during testing at Phillip Island in February.
Rea finished 19th, 16th and 18th on his return to action at the Cremona round in Italy two weeks ago.
Britain’s Alex Lowes was fourth in Saturday’s race, with Alvaro Bautista working his way up the field from 16th to take fifth after being involved in a collision with Andrea Locatelli and Michael van der Mark at the opening chicane on lap one.
The incident ruled Locatelli and Van der Mark out of the remainder of the race.
Bulega heads the championship standings on 218 points, with two-time champion Razgatlioglu 29 points in arrears on 189.
The Superpole sprint race and Race Two will take place on Sunday.
