With British riders filling the top four championship spots in the World Superbike class, there are plenty of reasons for fans to be excited as the championship returns to Donington Park this weekend. Jonathan Rea carries a healthy points advantage, while team-mate Tom Sykes has done the double at the Leicestershire venue for the past two years.

“I think the formula we have found in the working relationship between me and the rest of the team, my crew chief and the engineers at KHI (Kawasaki Heavy Industries), is going very well,” says Rea, whose cushion over second-placed Leon Haslam increased to 87 points after Imola. “We need to continue that way of working because Donington has presented some challenges to me in the past, as a rider. But last year, when I look at the results and watch the races again, it is clear that it is a track that really suits the Ninja ZX-10R, thanks to the stability of the bike in the last sector and the agility and handling of the KRT ZX-10R in the first sector.

“I expect to be strong but we do not know how strong we can be until Saturday qualifying. I will just treat it like another race. I have a lot of family coming over from Ireland and a lot of my British fans have been telling me on social media that they are coming, so it is going to be amazing to come home and see all my supporters.”

Perhaps it is Sykes who is most enthusiastic, having won the last four races at Donington. His 2014 Race 1 ride through the field from 11th place is generally regarded as one of the best in his career to date.

“I’m looking forward to Donington because, as the season has progressed, I have managed to make myself more comfortable with this year’s regulations,” begins the World Champion of 2013, “so much so that we set a new lap record in Imola - at a place where I did not expect to do that. We are definitely getting there now and I am looking for a setting that allows me to do that kind of lap time, but for 20 laps. We still miss a little bit but this is just purely from the balance between the bike and me. I am really looking forward to improving that and then we can be very consistent for the races. There is no reason why we can’t be.”

Kawasaki has won nine World Superbike races at Donington since the series was inaugural in 1988. This is second only to Ducati, which has triumphed at the venue no less than 17 times.