Sixth overall is his current reward for three points scoring finishes from four races as once more he competes with leading riders on Suzuki, Aprilia and Ducati machinery, in a class with seven manufacturers represented in total.
Valencia is not a track Rea has had a lo of luck at but he is hoping a new electronics package will change that.
"Valencia is a circuit that I've never really gone well at but we had a decent test there last December," Rea explained.
"It's going to be really interesting to roll out the new electronics package that we tested after the races at Portimao last week. I'm excited because they felt pretty good in the test and I'm intrigued to see how they go at Valencia. The start to the season has been OK; apart from that technical problem we had last time out. I've been getting steady points so far, but now we need to be at the front," Rea expressed.
After a season ruined by injury in 2009, Rea's Superbike team-mate Max Neukirchner (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) looks to Valencia as a weekend of real opportunity, given his recent race prowess at the 4.005km Spanish track. Still adapting to his new machine since he rejoined the Honda pack for 2010, Max is a quality rider working hard to find that one missing link to get him back into contention for podiums.
"After the disappointing results at Portimao I actually felt OK and was looking forward to a full day's test on the Monday, but the rain stopped the work we wanted to do. We found
something, but didn't really have enough dry time to develop it any further. It was in a completely different direction to what we had on race day. I felt pretty comfortable with it and I was able to go faster on old tyres. I was on the podium last year at Valencia and I nearly won a race there in 2008, so I hope to be fighting at the front again this weekend."
Injured Superbike regular, Broc Parkes, will be replaced by Sheridan Morais (ECHO CRS Honda CBR1000RR) once more, as the South African star starts his seventh and eighth career WSB races this coming weekend.
