Bike warnings made Rea ‘roll it back’ but it’s job done in USA

Jonathan Rea says ‘a few small warnings’ were enough to make him ease off in his pursuit of a remarkable seventh consecutive World Superbike Championship win as he nonetheless heads into the summer break with the advantage very much on his side.

With title rival Alvaro Bautista’s high-profile struggles strangling what had been an initially dominant WorldSBK campaign, Rea has gone a long way to taking full advantage with eight wins from the last ten races.

Dominating both race one and the shortened Superpole Race – contested over 8 laps and 11mins – Rea went for the treble in race two but had no answer to the rapid pace of Chaz Davies to settle for second.

Putting the minor dip down to an erroneous set-up change Kawasaki ZX-10RR, Rea was nonetheless thrilled to extend a devastating run of form that has completely turned around his title campaign.

“I would never have believed you if you told me I would come here and set a new lap record, win two races and take the overall lead, so it has been a great weekend.

“We made a very small change to the bike between the Superpole race and Race Two. My feeling was completely different, which we did not expect.

“There was a lot of front movement, whereas all weekend before that we had been strong with the front. I had a few small warnings, just enough for me to roll it back a bit, think about finishing and we got it done.

“I am just super-satisfied with this weekend and I did the best I could in race two. I am looking forward to the summer break now.”

Rea now leads the WorldSBK standings by 81 points from Bautista having out-scored the Spaniard by a massive 142 points over the last ten races.