Motorsport:Jonathan Rea clinches World Superbike title at Jerez

Jonathan Rea clinched the World Superbike Championship in Spain by finishing fourth in the opening race at Jerez.

The 28-year-old from Northern Ireland needed only to finish ninth to secure the title and achieved his aim with five races remaining.

Going into Sunday's second race, Rea led the standings by a massive 137 points with a maximum 125 at stake.

Rea started the opening 20-lap race strongly and was in second place during the early stages before slipping down the leaderboard.

But it was more than enough for Rea to claim his first WSB title following a dozen race wins during the 2015 season.

Rea's Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes, champion two years ago, led from start to finish to take his fourth win of the campaign.

And Rea also finished fourth in the second race, which was won by another Brit, Chaz Davies, who edged out Spain's Jordi Torres by 1.840 seconds.

Davies remains second in the overall standings from, Sykes who trails his compatriot by 22 points.

Rea is the fifth Briton to hold the world title after Carl Fogarty, Neil Hodgson, James Toseland and Sykes.

He said: "I cannot quite believe it - I have been waiting for this moment for such a long time. It was a difficult race and on every lap I was thinking about the championship and I was really happy in the end."

The final two rounds of the championship take place in France and Qatar on October 4 and October 18 respectively.

Race One result (20 laps):

1 T Sykes (Gbr) Kawasaki 34 minutes, 14.685 seconds

2 C Davies (Gbr) Ducati + 2.865s

3 M vd Mark (Ned) Honda + 6.665

4 J Rea (Gbr) Kawasaki + 9.059

5 L Haslam (Gbr) Aprilia + 9.318

6 M Pirro (Ita) Ducati + 10.466

7 A Lowes (Gbr) Suzuki + 15.945

8 M Baiocco (Ita) Ducati + 18.020

9 L Camier (Gbr) MV Agusta + 18.654

10 S Guintoli (Fra) Honda + 19.510

Race Two result (20 laps):

1 C Davies (Gbr) Ducati 34 minutes, 29.546 seconds

2 J Torres (Esp) Aprilia + 1.840s

3 L Haslam (Gbr) Aprilia + 2.335

4 J Rea (Gbr) Kawasaki + 7.619

5 T Sykes (Gbr) Kawasaki + 11.500

6 M Baiocco (Ita) Ducati + 12.705

7 M Pirro (Ita) Ducati + 12.995

8 L Camier (Gbr) MV Agusta + 15.332

9 S Guintoli (Fra) Honda + 18.411

10 L Mercado (Arg) Ducati + 21.544

Standings (after 11 of 13 rounds):

1 J Rea (Gbr) 478pts

2 C Davies (Gbr) 353

3 T Sykes (Gbr) 331

4 L Haslam (Gbr) 286

5 J Torres (Esp) 210

6 S Guintoli (Fra) 175

7 M vd Mark (Ned) 144

8 M Baiocco (Ita) 125

9 A Lowes (Gbr) 121

10 D Giugliano (Ita) 119