The HM Plant Honda rider was pushed hard by Shane Byrne on the Stobart Honda who came home in second place and Gregorio Lavilla on the Airwaves Ducati was third. This third place has reeled in Ryuichi Kiyonari's championship lead so he now is just one point ahead from the Spaniard in the title chase.
Off the line Rea had a close call when his team-mate Kiyo had a big moment getting away, with the back end of his bike sliding and almost catching Rea.
Rea got away first with Leon Haslam hounding him and Byrne in third place. The race was only two laps old when the Safety Car had to be deployed due to Neil Faulkner having a big off and Aaron Zanotti going down with Hudson Kennaugh.
Once the Safety Car was back in the pits the race was on with Rea and Haslam fighting amongst themselves until Byrne decided to pass both of them on lap four. Meanwhile Lavilla was steadily advancing passing Kiyo on lap seven to take fourth place.
Rizla Suzuki had a tough weekend on their hands with Chris Walker crashing out of eleventh place on lap eight. His team-mate Cal Crutchlow also went down on the last lap at Holiday corner.
Lap nine and it was battle of the team-mates with Lavilla challenging Haslam but to no avail. Kiyo managed to sneak up on Lavilla and nab him on the straight but Lavilla returned the favour just a number of corners later.
By now Rea was closing in on Byrne, and on lap twelve he made his move but Byrne took it back. That was short lived as Rea finally pushed by him to take his number one place with just four laps to go. Lavilla waited until two laps from the end to take his team-mate and relegated the race one winner to fourth place.
BSB race result (2) – Mondello Park:
1. Jonathan Rea
2. Shane Byrne
3. Gregorio Lavilla
4. Leon Haslam
5. Ryuichi Kiyonari
6. Leon Camier
7. Tom Sykes
8. Karl Harris
9. Tommy Hill
10. Scott Smart
