Having equalled Carl Fogarty’s WorldSBK win-record at Imola, Jonathan Rea’s legacy is now firmly in his own hands. The Northern Irishman said afterwards that while he is the equal of Foggy in terms of victories, he still has some way to go before being his equal; it will take winning a fourth title to do so.
The Kawasaki rider sat down in Italy to talk about his place in racing history, and about the luck of the draw in Irish racing.
“My dad raced, and I always respected what he did,” said Rea. “I really understand that now because Jake looks up to me so much, and I was the same when I was his age.”
“My dad was my hero, he always made me feel a part of it, and I could see how winning made him feel. I was too young to remember his racing, but recently Duke sent me footage of his 1989 250 TT win, and he flat-out beat Hizzy and Foggy in that race.”
“He was as good an Irish rider as anyone that didn’t get the opportunity to go and race in the UK, and show what he could do. Personally I never wanted to race on the roads, but growing up in Ireland, it’s all about racing on the roads.”
“People offer to sponsor you on the roads, or buy you a bike, but if you were going to Britain to race they didn’t want to support you. I was lucky that I could make a choice, and I went from motocross to the British championship.”
Since then of course, Rea’s career has gone from strength to strength. He moved into the WorldSBK paddock in 2008, to race in the Supersport class, and made his WorldSBK debut at the final round of the season.
It was a whirlwind rise to the top for Rea with a season on a 125cc machine, one season on a Supersport bike before making his Superbike debut at 18 years of age, in the British Superbike championship.
That experience allowed Rea to win twice as a rookie and challenge for the world title in only his second year. He may have had the speed, but he wasn’t yet a complete package.
“Honestly, my time at Honda made me the rider I am today. I’m writing a book at the minute, and I write about how the second year at Honda, 2010, I came to the penultimate round at Imola with a chance of winning the title.”
“The Fireblade was a good bike back then, but maybe I wasn’t ready to win a title at that point, and I actually got injured at Imola that weekend.”
“From that point on we struggled with Honda, and had a lot of problems with HRC about electronics, but my last year at Honda I actually led the championship in the middle of the season and was able to win races.”
“I was ready to win the title in 2014, and I knew how to get the most from the bike and myself, and I’d learned that if all you can get from a race is fifth you should take the points.”
“I was ready to win before I came to Kawasaki, and I understood how good that bike was from racing against it. When I jumped on that bike, a well-rounded package, and started working with God [Rea points to his crew chief Pere Riba] I was ready to win. I was ready, the bike was ready and the team was ready.”
While Rea credits Riba with unlocking the final elements of his potential, the Spaniard reciprocates by saying that Rea helped him learn so many facets of his job.
“Johnny basically already knew everything he needed when he came here. My time working with Joan and Loris helped me, in particular with Loris because he was so young.”
“He was 18 when he started working with me, and he left as a really fast rider. He left because he showed his potential, and was able to fight with Tom. Loris taught me so much, and in 2015 it was the right time for me as well as Johnny.”
“I’m a lot better now than I was four years ago, but my time with those other riders helped to make me ready to work with a rider like Johnny. He forced me to raise my level and to manage everything well. It’s been a dream with Johnny so far, and it’s not over yet!”
Rea leads the WorldSBK title race, and the title’s destiny is firmly in his hands. His future is also in his control with plenty of offers for 2018.
Rumors have been circling of MotoGP offers with an offer from Aprilia – one that Rea refused to deny. It is also very difficult to imagine him leaving WorldSBK to ride anything less than a race winning package.
As a result, the options on his table are likely to be remaining at Kawasaki or moving to Ducati.
“I’ve asked my manager to talk to everyone and he’s looking to put as many options in front of me as possible. I’m interested to hear what everyone has to say, but I’m very happy here with Kawasaki, and it’d take a very lucrative deal to leave here.”
“I think that there’s two other bikes that are as strong as ours in this paddock, but I feel good at Kawasaki. Building a legacy doesn’t come into it for me, I just want to be in the right position.”
“I’ll wait and see what comes up in MotoGP and WorldSBK, but the opportunities that are coming up in GP aren’t interesting to me at all because I want to win races.”
“I’ve raced twice in MotoGP on the best bike you can be on, the Repsol Honda. I’d rather do two races on that bike and have some top tens rather than sign up for a year on a crap bike and run around at the back.”
Photo: © 2016 Steve English – All Rights Reserved
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