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Rea: "It’s not cool to get taken out of the race"

Sunday, 10 June 2018 14:39 GMT

    • Have a read of Rea’s take on his WorldSBK Race two incident

    Coming off the back of a sensational Saturday in the Czech Republic, Jonathan Rea’s (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) hunt for a double came crashing down on lap two of 18, after he came into some contact with his team-mate Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).

    Starting from the third row of the grid after sensationally taking his 60th WorldSBK career victory, the Northern Irish rider took a smooth approach to his race craft on Sunday afternoon, taking his time to get through the pack. Trying to pass Sykes on the opening lap, he was forced to wait for another moment to make his move, but that would see his race come to an end.

    From Rea’s point of view, he was taken out by Sykes coming into turn 12 as he took the outside line through the corner. Unable to rejoin the race, the 31 year old suffered his first non points scoring finish of the season, the last time this happened was Magny-Cours in 2017.

    Explaining his short two laps around Automotodrom Brno, Rea begins: “It’s not the end to the weekend we were expecting, it’s been a great weekend for so many reasons but we didn’t get to finish it off that way we wanted. It’s not cool to get taken out of the race but it’s how it went to be honest. I was feeling very comfortable on my bike, I asked my mechanics to write ‘smooth’ on my bike to remind me that it was an 18 lap race and my pace all weekend has been a step ahead of everyone, I was in no urgency to get to the front – taking no risks.

    Unfortunately in the first lap I had a look at tom in the last corner and the door closed all of a sudden and I touched his rear wheel so I decided to start making ground on the rest but what happened next put an end to my race.”

    However, the ever positive Rea – alongside his team – are looking ahead with a positive light: “We have to try and rise above that now, we extended our lead in the championship – it’s the only positive I can have from today but anyway it’s one of them, just try and move on.”

    Hitting the half way point of the season with an appropriate 65 point lead in the world championship standings, Rea will put this weekend and look ahead to round eight at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Follow all of the drama with the WorldSBK VideoPass.