SBK, Rea: "This win has made me stronger"

Saturday at Laguna Seca sees Johnny Rea smiling down from the top step of the rostrum. Hats off to the Kawasaki rider, who scores his 61st win and extends his championship lead over Chaz Davies, second across the line.

The Cannibal proved patient in the race, waiting for the right moment to attack the Welshman who let him by but didn't allow him to break away.

“I'm very pleased with the results– commented Rea – this win has definitely made me stronger, especially after the crash on Friday. As I've said, I was punished at turn 5 because I overdid it, I think that winning is always the best way to put your problems behind you."

In the race, he once again had to battle with Davies on the Ducati.

“Inside I knew I had to be patient, Chaz had great pace in the early laps but I thought he'd struggle later. After I passed him I simply managed my pace, though I was impressed by the 1’23”0 that Davies set on lap three in those conditions".

There's a key aspect, that of the tyres.

“Temperatures in the race were really high and conditioned the race, personally I thought Davies would be quick in the early laps with the soft solution, but we had a harder tyre that performed better with our set-up and in the end it all worked out”.