Rea ruled out of Sunday's Magny-Cours races

Jonathan Rea was ruled out of Sunday's World Superbike action at Magny-Cours following his crash in Saturday's race one.

The six-time champion underwent surgery on Saturday night to repair an abrasion to his right thumb.

Rea's disappointing campaign on his debut Yamaha season continued with his lap-one spill in Saturday's wet conditions.

Confirming his absence from Sunday's action, Rea thanked "my team, my fans and all my sponsors that continue to support me in this tough period".

With Rea absent, Italian rider Nicolo Bulega cut Toprak Razgatlıoglu's championship lead to 80 points by winning Sunday morning's superpole race.

Ducati rider Bulega held off Britain's Alex Lowes in an exciting duel with another Italian Danilo Petrucci completing the podium positions.

Razgatlıoglu was ruled out of the French round by injury after securing a record 13th straight win in the series at the previous round in Portugal.

Defending champion Alvaro Bautista, who was second behind Michael van der Mark in race one, crashed out on lap one in the superpole race in a spill that also hampered Britain's Bradley Ray.

Bulega went on to take victory despite being bothered by a shoulder injury which he sustained while crashing out on lap one on Saturday.

Lowes, who slid off in the wet on lap 11 in Saturday's race while leading, is now only 21 points behind third-placed Bautista in the championship, with the Spaniard's chances of holding on to his title looking remote as he stands 122 points adrift of Razgatlıoglu.

Race two will take place at Magny-Cours later on Sunday afternoon.