Jonathan Rea says he heads to the second round of the 2015 World Superbike Championship 🌟with even greater confidence following his better-than-expected race-winning Kawasaki debut in Australia.

The Ulsterman marked his much anticipated first appearance in 'green' with a remarkable victory at Phillip Island, while second p෴lace in the follow-🌼up sees him take a shared lead with Aprilia's Leon Haslam to round two.

Even so, the second event marks a new c𝄹hallenge for all riders as World Superbikes heads to Thailand for the first time at the new Chang International Circuit in Buriram.

Though Rea - or any oth🌠er rider - is yet to sample the venue as yet, Rea says the way Kawasaki responded to 'problems' in🉐 the run up to race day in Australia gives him confidence he will be up front again in the Asian race.

"To be honest we had a much better start in Australia then we imagined," he said. "I know we were quite reserved with targets at Phillip Island as it had not been a circuit that has favoured the bike but we manage🀅d the set-up quite well. I was surprised with our pace.

"What I did learn was t🦄hat all week we had been having some problems but Pere, Paolo and the guys at Showa worked it out and on race-day we had a package to ride a strong 22 laps each time. That really impressed me. In the end I had a bike that I was really happy with. That gives me a little extra confidence now and because things are still reasonably fresh for me, to have that feeling is good.

"I have been in Thailand for a while and I always had a plan to come out for a week before the race. 🌞We never got to go on a family holiday last year so we are taking a few days here to recharge the batteries ready for round two, and to get acclimatised to the conditions a little."