Rea ready to rumble at landmark circuit
Honda World Superbike Team rider Jonathan Rea approaches the 4.933km circuit of Imola safe in the knowledge that he can win at the intense and undulating track as he took victory in the opening race there last season - a true landmark in his recovery from a serious wrist injury.
Rea, riding and developing the latest model of Fireblade this year, has already scored a seventh and fourth during the opening round of the season in Australia, narrowly missing out on a podium finish in race two. He will be out to rectify that situation at what will be the first of three Italian-based races in 2012.
Rea is raring to go after the long layoff since the Phillip Island races on Sunday February 26th. "I can't tell you how excited I am at the prospect of riding my bike again this weekend," said Jonathan in the build up to round two. "It seems like a lifetime since the opening round in Phillip Island so I'm raring to go again at Imola. I love racing in Italy - the food, the culture, everything about it is special - and Imola has some pretty special memories for me, especially winning last year after a long injury lay-off. That was the first time we rolled out on the ride-by-wire system last year and we've done a lot of work on it since then, so it'll be really interesting to benchmark where we are against our performance last season. I've been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of research since Phillip Island and I'm looking forward to putting what I've learned into practice this weekend."
