Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea has declared he is back where he belongs in the World Superbike winner's circle after taking a victory and a third in yesterday's Assen double-header.

The Ballymena man, who had a torrid winter of crashes and injury, controlled the first encounter from the front to take the chequered flag and settled for third in the second after being held up in the opening laps.

"I’m really proud to give the famous Castrol Honda name the first victory on its comeback to this championship. We spent all weekend developing the bike for the races, and that strategy paid off. I got a good start but couldn’t decide whether to let Max past and let him dictate the pace," said Rea.

"In the end I made the right decision to stay in front and take the win. We had to dig deep in race two because I got held up for a while and the front guys got away. I was matching their lap times but we ran into some tyre problems later in the race.

"I’m really happy with the weekend though, and really grateful to everyone who has helped to get me here – it’s been a long hard winter coming back from injury. The team has worked really well and that’s exactly the right sort of confidence and momentum that we need to take to the next races.

"I’m happy to be back where I belong, in the winners’ circle, and I look forward to trying to get more wins for the team."