Normally things are good but not fantastic for a rider who has watched his closest WorldSBK rival win one race and then claw one back himself before the curtain comes down on any weekend.

But Jonathan Rea took away a far greater points advantage – 36 – than he or his team could have ever realistically imagined before the Aragon and Teruel rounds in Motorland Aragon.

JR had won every single Superpole race so far this season, but in the Sunday sprint starter this time, it was an impossible task.

“We got off to a good start in the Superpole race but when Scott came past quite early it disturbed my rhythm a bit. He set a very good pace. I was strong in the first part of the circuit and although I enjoyed the ten-lap race I realised that today it was going to be second,” said Rea, who lost just three points to his biggest rival at that stage.

“In race two I realised that instead of managing the race I needed to go through, and then I had a huge ‘moment’. I was pushing the front quite a lot especially in turn one and turn 12. I was having a lot of front slides but I think it was the same for everyone. I went all in, full gas in that race.

"It is hard when we are giving away so much on the back straight. On the rest of the track you have to ride on 100% but not make any mistakes. It seems that when the other riders make a small mistake it is more easy to keep the lap time, they don’t drop as much. It was more a race for me trying to be clean and not making any mistakes.”

Rea was in mitigation mode approaching the long straight in the Sunday races. “I would prepare my entry onto the long straight perfect, slip into the slipstream and just make zero ground. I am sure if you compare the speed chart times I spent most of the race in a slipstream either with Scott or Rinaldi, but it is still probably slower.”

But that speed advantage is not everything.

“As I learned last year, quite quickly, even though Ducati have this advantage with power, it does not mean it is the best package on he day,” affirmed Rea. “If you saw today the entry speed I could carry and the stopping performance from the Ninja ZX-10RR – also how we kept the tyre until the end – I feel like we had a better package.”

Rea was reminded that he won his 96th WorldSBK race in race two at Teruel. Usually not that bothered about stats and facts, even his potential for a ‘ton-up’ of wins has got a five times world champions’ attention.

“Yes, it is nice and it is getting closer to a big number - which is a big target. For sure it is something it is something to aim to now. That would be a dream.”

Rea looked a little bit more his relaxed and smooth self this weekend, even compared to last weekend at the same track, and although he has made some changes to his riding style he also thinks that aspect of his double-header Motorland races has been overplayed.

“I think the riding style thing has been a little bit exaggerated. It is a nice story for sure but it is not that much different. It just seems that in some of the very long left hand corners I can drop my elbow down, but a lot of riders are doing this. It is just felt a little bit more natural to me to do it.

It is not a huge difference in the style. I still have that conventional, upright old school style. It is a bit more economical. It is a bit more physical to be always off the side of the bike.”

The final race win at Teruel for Rea was a lot to do with just really wanting to win, especially after he simply could not on Saturday when Rinaldi had him plain beat.

I convinced myself on the startline not to go away at the beginning, not to have a strategy but just to fight like hell for 18 laps. That is how the race went down and it was nice to get it done.”

The big gap in the championship table is evident now and Rea did not think this would be the final result after two whole Motorland weekends. “It was unexpected. “I think we came here with two points after Portimao,” said Rea.

“If you see the championship, the deficit after Phillip Island, then Jerez even more, we have managed to put the last thee rounds together and be competitive which is perfect for us. I knew it was going to be difficult here but I knew at the tests were quite competitive, especially when the tyre dropped.”