World champion Rea overcomes grid penalty to win in Assen

Rea had set a new qualifying lap record of one minute 33.505 seconds to seemingly claim pole position, only to be demoted to fourth after being adjudged to have impeded Davies in the final moments of Superpole 2.

However, the Northern Irishman moved quickly into second place behind Davies when the first race of round four got under way, with the pair battling for the lead ahead of Rea's Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes.

After briefly getting in front on laps 18 and 19 only for Davies to quickly retake the lead, Rea was able to make an overtaking maneouvre stick on the penultimate lap, with the unfortunate Davies then experiencing a mechanical fault and coasting to a standstill.

That allowed Sykes to claim second place ahead of Italy's Marco Melandri, with Spain's Xavi Fores crossing the line in fourth.

Rea, who has now won six of the seven races so far this season, told Eurosport: "Chaz done an amazing job, that was a fast race at the beginning. I planned to go through and put my head down but every time I went through on the fast section where I was strong he got past me in the chicane.

"But he made a big mistake in (turn) three and went completely wide and opened the door and that was the only opportunity I needed to put my head down and go."

Speaking after his 10th win at the Dutch circuit, Rea added: "I really enjoy the track, I think it helps I've done so many laps here in testing throughout my career. It's a special place but it builds some pressure for tomorrow now."

Davies (Ducati) had been almost a second slower than Rea in qualifying and was furious with the double world champion for getting in his way as he tried to set a quicker time in the last few seconds.

"Johnny looked behind, saw me and then decided to park it in the middle of the track," Davies told Eurosport. "It's good sportsmanship from him - not.

"I did enough on the first lap to make it count but I was hoping for a little bit more on the second lap."

Rea, who is now 59 points ahead of Sykes in the championship with Davies dropping to fourth, said: "I rolled out of my lap, I was looking behind and getting off line, but I think he's showing his frustrations, which is nice to see."