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Jonathan Rea took fourth and second place finishes in the two sixth round World Superbike championship races at Miller Motorsports Park in the USA. Rea re-started the delayed race from sixth place on the grid and, after early leader Carlos Checa crashed out, the 25-year-old was quickly embroiled in a thrilling four-way tussle for the lead with Marco Melandri, Chaz Davies and Max Biaggi. Taking the lead on lap 11, Rea controlled the race until the final lap, with the superior handling of his CBR1000RR clearly visible in the twistier parts of the track. However, Melandri had the edge on speed down Miller's 1.2km straight and Rea finally crossed the line just 0.2s behind the Italian.

Jonathan Rea: "We knew we had good pace but I had some front chatter in race one. It was coming from the engine braking so we released that a bit for race two. We changed the front tyre as well, because the temperature had gone up. That gave me the confidence to push because I knew the guys in front in race one had used the same one. It was good, and my guys gave me a little bit more power off the turn. It's clear to see how well the bike is working and how much traction I've got. It's just the big, long straight here at Salt Lake where we've been down on speed. Without dwelling on the negatives, my guys gave me a great bike and it's working really well. I've got real confidence now and don't feel like I'm riding on the edge - it's quite controlled, which is a good thing, so thanks to all the team for their continued hard work. Nobody's giving up and, without thinking about the championship, it's just nice to come back here to the winner's enclosure and be on the podium. After the nightmare of last year at Miller, it's really cool to be fighting for wins."

Rea is now called upon to do the same at Misano Adriatico, where he scored his first-ever WSBK win in 2009. Last year however he crashed in the warm-up, suffering concussion, and that together with an injury to his right wrist meant that he had to miss a few rounds last season.