Philip Island WSBK - I didn't see a win this weekend' - Rea

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea said he hadn’t been expecting a win at this weekend’s World Superbike season opener as former team-mate Leon Haslam had strong pace at the Australian circuit but he triumphed over the Aprilia man in race one and was beaten by only the narrowest of margins in race two.

The Isle of Man resident had been told by his crew chief Pere Riba not to lead any laps but found himself at the head of a three-man dice in race one which went down to the wire. The situation was the same in race two but Rea was just outdragged to the line by Haslam, losing out by 0.010s at the flag.

“I could not have had a better weekend. I’d have taken your hand off at the start of the weekend had you offered me that. To be honest, I didn’t see a race win because Aprilia were so strong and Leon is riding really well. We dug ourselves out of a hole really,” said Rea.

“The team were not so optimistic about winning races or being on the podium here with the pace of some other bikes but together with Pere, Paolo, Javier, all the guys from Showa, all my mechanics, we worked really hard and never lost sight of our goal, which was to be strong for 22-laps each time. Leon just had more pace today in each race, so race one fell in my hands a little, but I am so happy to be getting out of here with 45 points and starting the season strongly.

“I did not expect these results at all. We were not the most optimistic so to be just pipped by a small margin in race two, and by my old team-mate Leon, I am happy for him. We did the maximum we could and came away with the maximum points we could have had. I am happy and excited to move on from here with 45 points.”