Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea will make changes to his works Kawasaki for the second World Superbike race at Donington Park this afternoon but says he needs something special to try and beat race one winner and team-mate Tom Sykes.

Rea and Sykes swapped paint several times in the opening encounter and Sykes eventually pulled a near-four second gap after Rea waved  Sykes through into Redgate.

“It meant ‘after you, please’. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay at the front, every time I passed him he almost rode into the side of me twice, so if you want to go, go. You have the next gear at Donington, you’re Mr Donington so stop playing and go,” said Rea, speaking to bikesportnews.com.

“I was there but I made one big mistake with five to go and there was a bit of rain coming at the back. When the gap grew I thought more about the bike and how to improve for race two than trying to chase or worry about third place.

“If there is a place where he is going to be strong it’s here. I’m not prepared to roll over a take a pasting and I think we can come out better equipped for race two. I feel he has an extra gear so we need to do something a bit special for race two.

“I have a vague feeling with the front when the tyre goes off and rear stability seemed really bad on my bike when I was behind Tom. I could be fast and close to him in the first sector  and make up time but when it came to McLeans and Coppice, I was really struggling to stop the bike, so we need to address that. I feel like I did a really good race and did the best I could.”