Rea exceeds targets despite record World Superbike wins miss

Jonathan Rea may have to wait a little longer to take the outright record for all-time World Superbike race wins but feels it was mission accomplished at Donington Park with a pair of podiums to extend his championship lead to a commanding position.

After settling for second place in a tense opener at the British track, the Kawasaki rider dropped one spot back after a final lap fight from Puccetti Kawasaki’s Toprak Razgatlioglu which saw him lose out while Pata Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark stormed to a dominant double victory.

Rea exceeds targets despite record World Superbike wins miss

Jonathan Rea may have to wait a little longer to take the outright record for all-time World Superbike race wins but feels it was mission accomplished at Donington Park with a pair of podiums to extend his championship lead to a commanding position.

After settling for second place in a tense opener at the British track, the Kawasaki rider dropped one spot back after a final lap fight from Puccetti Kawasaki’s Toprak Razgatlioglu which saw him lose out while Pata Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark stormed to a dominant double victory.

As a result, Rea has missed his first opportunity to make World Superbike history by taking the outright all-time wins record having drawn level with Carl Fogarty on 59 career victories last time out at Imola.

While Rea accepts it was disappointing to miss achieving the feat in front of his home crowd his priority of extending his championship lead has been secured as he moves to 64 points ahead of nearest rival Chaz Davies at the top of the riders' standings.

“Today I was beaten by the better guy and arguably the guy in second place was even better and it looked like he was on a mission, I’m not sure what he had for breakfast!” Rea said.

“Coming from the third row it was really difficult and I was really aggressive to gain some places. My brake lever started to move so I was getting stressed and outbraking myself. The temperature in my brake callipers was really hot and I had some arm pump issues towards the end too. The bike was so much better than yesterday even with the wind today.

“I could see Toprak was coming from my pit board but there was nothing I could do about him at that point, as he had better pace at the end.

“The target here at Donington was to exit the weekend with more than 50 points of advantage in the championship and we exceeded that, so for me it was a positive weekend.”

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