Joint World Superbike series leader Jonathan Rea goes into this weekend’s Thailand round bursting with confidence after a somewhat unexpected, by him at least, points haul at the Phillip Island opener.

After overcoming setup problems in the pre-season test, the Isle of Man, er, man scrapped it out with Leon Haslam and Chaz Davies to bag a win and a second at a circuit that hasn’t historically suited the works-backed ZX-10R and he says goes to the track still feeling good.

“To be honest we had a much better start in Australia then we imagined. I know we were quite reserved with targets at Phillip Island as it had not been a circuit that has favoured the bike but we managed the set-up quite well,” said Rea.

“I was surprised with our pace. What I did learn was that all week we had been having some problems but Pere, Paolo and the guys at Showa worked it out and on raceday we had a package to ride a strong 22 laps each time.

“That really impressed me. In the end I had a bike that I was really happy with. That gives me a little extra confidence now and because things are still reasonably fresh for me, to have that feeling is good.”

It is the first time Chang International has been used for world championship bike racing and this weekend looks to be a pre-cursor to a visit by the MotoGP circus in 2016.