Davies missed the second race of the previous round at Misano three weeks ago, having suffered a back injury in a crash with points leader Rea, and was only cleared to race at Laguna Seca on Thursday.

But the Welshman suffered no ill effects at the Californian track, qualifying second to Sykes and holding the same position behind the Kawasaki rider in the early laps of the race, with Rea forming a breakaway trio just behind.

What turned out to be the decisive move of the race arrived on lap 12 of 25 at the Corkscrew, as Davies muscled his way by Sykes to grab the lead.

Rea didn't require a second opportunity to pass his teammate either, taking advantage of Davies' aggressive move to slip into second at Rainey Curve.

From there, the race boiled down to a two-way contest between Davies and Rea, with the latter coming very close to making a pass with seven laps left.

But then Davies was able to find the pace he needed to stretch a small gap, and went on to take his fourth win of the season by 1.2 seconds.

Sykes completed the podium in third, another five seconds behind the lead duo and some 12 seconds ahead of the second Ducati of Marco Melandri, who lost touch with the top three early on.

Milwaukee Aprilia's Eugene Laverty held fifth for the opening part of the race, but a crash at Turn 3 on the 11th lap gave Barni Ducati rider Xavi Fores a clear run to the place.

Leon Camier (MV Agusta) was sixth, followed by Jordi Torres (Althea BMW) and the best of the Yamaha riders, Michael van der Mark. The Dutchman's teammate Alex Lowes was an early crasher.

Leandro Mercardo (Ioda Aprilia) and Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) completed the 10, ahead of lead Honda rider Stefan Bradl.

On his World Superbike debut, local man Jake Gagne - replacing late compatriot Nicky Hayden - completed the points scorers on the second works Honda in 15th place.

Race results:

Pos.	#	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	7	Chaz Davies	Ducati	35'14.812
2	1	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	1.202
3	66	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki	5.798
4	33	Marco Melandri	Ducati	17.574
5	12	Xavi Fores	Ducati	21.159
6	2	Leon Camier	MV Agusta	23.016
7	81	Jordi Torres	BMW	31.986
8	60	Michael van der Mark	Yamaha	32.933
9	36	Leandro Mercado	Aprilia	35.936
10	32	Lorenzo Savadori	Aprilia	36.912
11	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	44.961
12	40	Roman Ramos	Kawasaki	45.203
13	35	Raffaele De Rosa	BMW	45.901
14	15	Alex de Angelis	Kawasaki	46.043
15	45	Jake Gagne	Honda	46.805
16	86	Ayrton Badovini	Kawasaki	54.463
17	88	Randy Krummenacher	Kawasaki	56.989
18	96	Jakub Smrz	Yamaha	1'06.108
19	37	Ondrej Jezek	Kawasaki	1'11.766
Ret	50	Eugene Laverty	Aprilia	15 laps
Ret	22	Alex Lowes	Yamaha	19 laps