WSBK: Rea hails “incredible run” with double win at Portimao

Jonathan Rea may have had a slow start to the 2018 World Superbike championship but he is in full flow now as he took two more victories to mount up an incredible 116 point lead in the championship over Aruba.IT Ducati’s Chaz Davies.

The Kawasaki ace started from 2nd on the grid behind Milwaukee Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty, pouncing and taking the lead from Marco Melandri on the exit of turn one and leading for the rest of the way. The Ulsterman cruised home to take race one before once again dominating in race two, coming through from 9th on the grid and he was 2nd with 18 laps to go.

“The run right now is incredible. It was a really tough race, as I had to fight a lot in the beginning. I made a very good start and had good track position early on. At turn five an opportunity opened up behind two riders and I found myself right behind Tom. He proved very hard to pass. I made a pass stick in T13, and chased Chaz down within a lap. Then it took me so many laps to go past him because he was braking so late, and his bike was so fast in the straight. Once I got past I just concentrated on making a couple of clean laps and setting my rhythm”, said Rea, speaking about race two.

“The pace today was a little bit slower because the temperature had risen a bit and also I used the tyre a little bit more coming through the pack. I put everything into the race and managed to get 25 points, so I am really happy”.