Jonathan Rea was second in last year's World Supersport series

Jonathan Rea made an impressive start to his World Superbike campaign on Sunday morning, finishing fifth in race one and ninth in the second race.

The first race of the Australian round at Philip Island was won by Noriyuki Haga, with Ben Spies winning the next.

Rea's two top-ten finishes leave him in sixth place in the championship.

Eugene Laverty took fifth position in the Supersport event after a thrilling battle with fourth-placed finisher, England's Cal Crutchlow.

Rea collected 18 points for his day's work in the Superbike class.

"I managed to get the holeshot in race one and led for three laps, but I was very conscious about preserving the rear tyre so tried to ride as gently as I could," said Laverty.

"In race two, the pace was just that much quicker and I probably wasn't aggressive enough in the early part.

"After I dropped back, I was just eating the rear tyre trying to keep with the others and a couple of mistakes meant I had to ride even harder," added the Ballyclare rider.

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