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

The Ulsterman marked his much anticipated first appearance in 'gre♊en' with a remarkable victory at Phillip Island, while second place in the follow-up sees him take a shared lead with Aprilꦡia's Leon Haslam to round two.

Even so, the second event marks a new challenge for all riders as World Superbikes heads to Thailand for the first꧙ time at the new Chang International Circuit in Buriram.

Though Rea - or any other 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 fron♎t again in the Asian race.

"To be honest we had a much better start in Australia then w🔴e imagin꧂ed," 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 managed the set-up quite well. I was surprised with our pace.

"What I did learn was that all week we had been having some problems but Pere, Paolo and൩ 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 m💮e. 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 alwayಌs ha🎐d 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."