Rea clocks up third victory

In temperatures of more than 30C, the Larne rider followed up his third victory of the season with an impressive second place in race two.

Starting race one from the front row of the grid, Rea rode around the outside of race two winner, Aprilia’s Max Biaggi, at turn 11 on the opening lap and was never headed, eventually finishing the race 2.5s ahead of Biaggi and Britain’s Cal Crutchlow on the Yamaha, who was third.

Biaggi turned the tables on Rea in race two, but not until the 23-year-old had led for the opening six laps. Rea had made no changes to his Honda CBR1000RR between races, other than replacing the dash unit and putting in a new set of tyres.

A delighted Jonathan said: “In race one, I honestly felt that someone up there was watching out for me because it was like I couldn’t do anything wrong. But it felt great to win and dedicate it to my team manager, Ronald ten Kate, who couldn’t be here this weekend because his father is very ill.

“It was a weird start to that race, because as I sat on the grid the only thing I could think about was how badly I needed to go to the toilet! As soon as the race started I went to the front instead and just kept it smooth for the remaining 19 laps. It felt so nice to win a race again. I’d kind of forgotten what that felt like. “Race two wasn’t so bad and fair play to Max, who rode really well. I tried to fight but I had nothing left in the tyre, which just didn’t feel the same as the one I had in race one. However, we worked much better as a team this weekend and made really good changes during the practice and qualifying sessions.

“Our bike is difficult to take from track to track, but we definitely got the best out of it this weekend. Now I’m off to Japan for the Suzuka 8 Hour, but I’m looking forward to getting back in front of my home fans in three weeks at Silverstone”.

Championship points after nine of 13 rounds: 1, Biaggi 352; 2, Leon Haslam 284; 3, Rea 203.

Next round: Silverstone, UK, July 30 - August 1.