Jonathan Rea made World Suberbike history on Sunday by equalling Carl Fogarty’s all-time record of 59 career race wins in the series.

In taking his first double race win of the season at Imola, Castletown resident Rea moved on to the same number of wins as the former TT ace.

After a masterful race one win for the Kawasaki Racing Team rider from pole position on Saturday, Sunday’s 19-lap race delivered a victory of a different kind.

Starting from ninth, and not getting away as cleanly as his team-mate Tom Sykes, Rea had to put in several passes before getting into the slipstream of early leader Chaz Davies’s factory Ducati.

Rea was in second place after four laps, and sat behind Davies for much of the race before deciding to make a final pass into the Variante Alta, on lap 13.

The Ulsterman put in two blistering laps with clear track ahead of him and eventually won by a margin of 4.019 seconds.

He has now won half of the races in 2018, but this is the first time has been able to win the second race of any weekend, rather than the first.

Rea has the chance to become the stand-alone record holder for race wins at the next round, Donington Park, on May 26-27.

After five of 13 rounds in the championship standings, Rea leads Davies by 47 points, 209 to 162, with Sykes now third on 137.

’We got it done and it was probably the best race win of the season,’ said Jonathan. ’Coming from ninth on the grid, it was so difficult.

’I think I was over-thinking the first lap a lot - and my track position - coming from the outside of row three. I lost places in the first corner but eventually I was able to stick in some passes.

’I wasted no time, so when I caught Chaz I was able to relax a little bit behind him and understand where I could pass him. I tried two or three times, but he was determined to come back. The final time I made it through, into the Variante Alta, it was time to put my head down and make a gap.’