Rea ends season with double podium at Portimao
Fourth place in the chmapionship at Honda's top rider for Irish battler
IRISH ACE Jonathan Rea was the top Honda rider in the 2009 WSB championship in overall fifth place, partly thanks to second and third place finishes at the final round in Portimao.
Rea, who bagged fourth in Superpole, was not quite able to get into contention with pole man and early leader Ben Spies in race one, but finished only 1.697 seconds down at the flag.
In race two Rea was leading near the end of the race, after an aggressive and controlled ride, but dropped from first to third on the final lap.
Again he was less than two seconds from the winner, this time Michel Fabrizio. Jonathan ended the season with 315 points in total, narrowly missing fourth place by just four points.
He said: “This is my best weekend so far in the season, and I have to thank the team for all the help this year to get me to this point. In the second race I had real good fun with Michel Fabrizio but I had my own championship battle to worry about against Biaggi.
"I pushed really hard and wanted to win that race to finish off the season on a high note, but congratulations to Michel, he rode a great race. I am already thinking about coming back next year and I’m really looking forward to it.”
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