WORLD Superbike rider Jonathan Rea crashed yesterday (Thursday) during a private test at Phillip Island, Australia.

The 24-year-old, who lives in Castletown, came off his bike in wet conditions at turn one.

He suffered neck pains and was transferred to hospital for a scan - which was clear - but he missed the rest of the day's testing programme.

On Wednesday he completed 102 laps onboard his Castrol Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade and settled quickly into a fast rhythm around the sweeping 4.5km circuit 150km south of Melbourne.

Jonathan said: "Everything felt really good (on Wednesday) and we did more laps than we've done during the whole winter in Europe.

"(On Thursday) it was wet but, when it stopped raining and looked like clearing up, I went out but got off the bike quite quickly at turn one.

"I hurt my neck a bit but the paramedics insisted on putting me in a brace and taking me to hospital where it took about four hours to get a scan.

"Everything was fine and it was a little frustrating to lose the time today.

"But Wednesday showed that we're in a pretty good place, so I'm looking forward to some more testing on Monday."

Jonathan's team manager Ronald ten Kate said: "Well, Jonathan had quite a big off but everything was fine on Wednesday and I saw he Tweeted that the bike was 'Jammin' which is a good thing I think!

"He was still on full wets (on Thursday), even though the puddles had gone, and when he got back from the hospital it was quite late, so we gave him the rest of the afternoon off!"

Jonathan was testing at Phillip Island with his new teammate Reuben Xaus.

Photos by Steve Duggan sdpics.com