Reigning World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea will get his first taste of the 2019 Kawasaki ZX-10R during a two-day test at Jerez which starts tomorrow but due to fog, the Castletown resident is currently stuck on the Isle of Man.

Rea missed the opening winter test at Motorland Aragon last week as wife Tarsh was giving birth to their second son Tyler Jon, so team-mate Tom Sykes has a day’s advantage over the Isle of Man resident.

“I am really excited to get back onto the bike again. I started to test some new components on the bike in Jerez the day after the race in September and right there and then I had a good feeling with the direction things were going in. Speaking to some of the crew and KHI staff about the Motorland test last week they have moved the bike forward,” said Rea.

“The areas it has improved in should really help me a lot and I want to try the full potential. I am excited because Pere Riba, my crew chief, has worked really hard with the KHI engineers to make the 2016 bike really competitive for me. We will adopt our step-by-step philosophy again, get through the test programme and not get too excited because there is a lot of mileage and riding to be done before the first round in Phillip Island.”