A 46 point lead at the beginning of the summer break leaves Jonathan Rea in a very strong position to defend his WorldSBK title in 2016. However, like all Champions, the Northern Irishman knows that the second you start resting on your laurels, they are torn out from underneath you.

Speaking to WorldSBK.com Rea admitted that this season has been a big challenge for him as he learns how to get the most from the 2016 Kawasaki ZX10R Ninja.

“Honestly I couldn’t have asked for much more at the start the year because we have a new bike,” said Rea. “It's a completely new bike, engine, chassis and for us to be competitive from the off in Philip Island and do the double there was incredible. This season has been so much more than we expected but we’ve faced some difficulties.

“The most obvious is the gear shifting problems I’ve encountered at some races. But now we pretty much understand that and why that’s happening. I feel that in Sepang we started to make some breakthroughs and in Donington, Misano and Laguna we’ve been really strong.”

That improved fortune has given Rea a new lease of life heading into the final four rounds of the campaign and speaking just hours after the race at Laguna Seca, he was itching to get back on track and make up for a retirement in the final race before the summer.

“I feel now that for the last part of the season I’m more excited than I was about the first half,” affirms Rea. “We felt a little bit on the back foot in those early races and some races we landed on the podium but we were ahead of where we should have been. I wouldn't say we got lucky but now I feel that I'm genuinely riding really well and that we are probably the strongest right now.”

It's not been an easy path for Rea to get the bike into an operating window with which he has been comfortable, however. The new bike clearly has lots of potential but with Tom Sykes having driven that development path, it was something that Rea had to adapt to.

“The new bike is a completely different character,” explained Rea. “It’s a bike has come from many years of development and feedback and most of that is from Tom because I only came here last year. When I first rode the bike in Jerez last year we were super fast but it was a strange test because there was so much rubber on the track and the track is so fast there in November.

“That test gave us a false sense of reality and since that we have had difficulties. I’ve made no secret that the engine character is not for my conventional style - my normal style of riding. It’s been a bike that’s been developed by Tom and for Tom. So I really feel like I’ve been strong enough to understand that and try to get the pendulum swung the other way to fall in love with the bike again.”

That strength was reflected in a superb run of 17 podium finishes to start the season – a streak no one else could match - and while it has been punctuated by Rea's first retirement of the season he is clearly feeling upbeat about the rest of the year. Although neither Rea nor Tom Sykes have tried to hide the tension inside the Kawasaki pitbox between the teammates, on track there is plenty of respect for one another and their potential.

“Of course on some days Tom is stronger than me but I really believe in myself and my bike. I think when all things are equal I can do a better job. I have to have that belief as a rider and it doesn't enter my thoughts whether it is Tom behind or Chaz behind because it doesn’t really matter to me. I know the thing with me is to be confident for the race.

“Every rider up and down pit lane goes home on Saturday night or has their pre-race interviews and is super confident. I’m not sure if that’s all bravado or some guys need to talk themselves into it. But I just try to go into the race confident in what I can do. I don't necessarily talk about it, but when the lights go out I know that inside when I have a good feeling with this bike, with this Kawasaki, there’s not many guys that can beat us.”

The final four Rounds of the season give Rea the chance to become a back-to-back WorldSBK Champion, becoming the first man since Fogarty to defend the title. The first of those sees the grid attack Lausitzring in Germany, before Magny-Cours and Jerez pave the way to the season finale in Qatar.