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PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia (AP) — Defending world champion Jonathan Rea won the season-opening 22-lap Superbike World Championship race at Phillip Island on Saturday, his third consecutive victory in Australia.
The British rider, on a Kawasaki, edged ahead of Ducati's Chaz Davies on the final lap to win by .042 seconds. Rea's British and Kawasaki teammate Tom Sykes was third.
"It was a little bit like a bicycle race and no one wanted to put their nose in front," Rea said.
Rea's 39th World Superbrike win ended Welshman Davies' six-race winning streak from 2016.
There will be a second Superbike race Sunday at Phillip Island.
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