After his injury just days before the opening races of the 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season, Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) was a man on a mission to get back to track; and now two rounds into his return, the six-time World Champion is showing signs of shedding rust quickly. His pair of tenth-place finishes in Race 1 and the Tissot Superpole Race were the best results of his season so far, and while his Race 2 was affected by being applied a double Long Lap Penalty for his involvement in an incident which saw Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) and Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) crash out of the race, he ended the race in 13^th, scoring points for the second time in the weekend.

“I went to go see Alvaro and Xavi immediately after the race to offer my apologies; but to me it was a racing incident” – Rea on the Turn 1 incident in Race 2

Sunday afternoon’s WorldSBK Race 2 was no exception to a trend across the weekend of riders coming to grief on the circuit’s opening chicane. Many riders went bar-to-bar as they opened up the throttle ahead of the first corner only to be pressed in by other riders as the pack got on the brakes, turned right, then turned the bike over for the left-hand Turn 2 corner exit. In Race 2’s case, Rea tried to hug Turn 1’s righthand curb, then come wide around Turn 2 to avoid the pinch point in the chicane, however Bautista had a similar idea; both riders came together sending Bautista lowsiding into Vierge, and in an attempt to avoid the two riders, Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) ran wide on the gravel. While Rea felt it was a racing incident, he was applied a double Long Lap Penalty by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards.

On the incident, Rea made his case but felt for the pair of Spaniards who saw their races end prematurely: “For me it was a racing incident, we both committed to the same piece of tarmac, and of course, there was impact, so I was the culprit. It ended his race, so I’m sorry for that, I went to go see Alvaro and Xavi, who came off a little worse for wear, immediately after the race to offer my apologies; but to me it was a racing incident. I have my race as well, but I’m gutted that it compromised their race, Alex Lowes as well who had to take avoiding action. It’s frustrating, but it is T1 at Most and unfortunately this weekend I was involved in the incident.”

REA RESURGENT? A pair of season-high P10’s from Most will put gas in the tank of the 18-season veteran

After missing the first three rounds of the season, the #65 showed in Cremona that while he had accomplished a herculean task to return from his injury so quickly, he still needed time to return to race form. In that pursuit, Most showed clear signs of improvement from the Northern Irishman. A key factor to the six-time Champion is race starts, something that across the weekend, he did well. In Race 2, despite starting in P14, he flew up the grid to finish Lap 1 in fifth place. If he can manage to continue these quick starts at lights out and combine that with maintaining that pace to protect his positions, Rea may return to the ‘titanic’ heights of seasons’ past.

Taking a step back, on how he sees his season so far in light of his injury, Rea said: “In the big picture of coming back from injury at Cremona, to making a step forward with the feeling on the bike and making a step physically, there have been steps in a good direction. Looking forward now to a two-day test at Misano coming up before the race in a few weeks’ time, I’m looking forward to getting even more comfortable on the Yamaha R1”

Misano is up next, June 13-15^th; tune in live with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 30% off!