Rea relishes Aragon fights against Ducatis

Jonathan Rea says extending his World Superbike championship lead at the top of the standings is worthy reward for some “fun” fights against his Ducati rivals Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri.

The triple World Superbike champion produced a flawless performance to clinch victory in race two at Aragon, a circuit which in recent seasons suited Ducati, while he had to settle for second place behind Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Chaz Davies after a race-long tussle.

Rea has opened up his championship lead to 12 points and after two intense races fighting both factory Ducati riders plus the independent Barni Ducati of Xavi Fores for wins he’s content with his progress heading to Assen next weekend.

“I threw everything into the last lap in race two but I overcooked it into turn 12,” Rea said. “But it was fun! The set-up was pretty good, although I was struggling to stop a little bit after the rear tyre had dropped in grip; then I had reduced corner entry traction.

“It seemed like Chaz had the same thing but when he was making mistakes he could keep the same lap time.

“It seems like right now we have to be very precise all through the race, but I enjoyed it today. I had no information on how the race would pan out with the tyre choice we made, and the rise in temperature. I did not know what to expect at the end but I was really happy. I had some good tyre left and was still able to fight. Now we move onto Assen.”

Rea will be confident heading to Assen having won the past seven consecutive races at the Dutch track while he has 11 career World Superbike race wins at the circuit from a total of 18 race starts.