Motorcycling
Larne rider Jonathon Rea goes into tomorrow's debut Thailand round of the World Superbike Championships with an eager ambition to continue the form shown in his fantastic opening round in Australia writes Willis Marshall.
The Kawasaki Team rider scored a win and a second place finish to jointly lead the 2015 series after round one and as Thailand is a new venue for the WSBK series, Rea believes that everyone is on an even par, and that is just what the County Antrim rider wants.
For Rea another two podiums are the aim after a dream debut on the Ninja ZX-10R.
The Chang International Circuit is the first ever WSB venue in Thailand, with no prior testing there for the regular teams. At 4.554km long the circuit is flat and features mostly slower corners, but with two fast straights followed by tighter turns there should be overtaking opportunities to exploit. "To be honest we had a much better start in Australia then we imagined," said Rea. "I know we were quite reserved with targets at Phillip Island as it had not been a circuit that has favoured the bike but we managed the set-up quite well. I was surprised with our pace. ''All week we had been having some problems but on raceday we had a package to ride a strong 22 laps each time. That really impressed me. In the end I had a bike that I was really happy with. "That gives me a little extra confidence now and because things are still reasonably fresh for me, to have that feeling is good. ''I have been in Thailand for a while and I always had a plan to come out for a week before the race. We never got to go on a family holiday last year so we are taking a few days here to re-charge the batteries ready for round two.''