That is probably the best performance we have done in Jerez for a number of years now. We have got to be really happy with our effort but I am a little bit disappointed that I had nothing left at the end for Scott. I had a few front slides in turn two and it was enough just to knock my confidence a little bit to start thinking to bring it home. We are not loading the front enough so we have some areas to improve for tomorrow. The good thing is that the rear tyre was working really well all race and had a lot of traction. This is not the strongest circuit for us but I was right there in the mix until the last few laps. http://jonathan-rea.com/news/rea-second-hot-conditions
Kawasaki Racing Team rider Jonathan Rea led most of the 20-laps of the first race at Jerez and finished in second place by just over a se Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook
I’m very excited to go racing again after this long break in the calendar. Over the last few weeks I have been able to familiarise myself with our ZX-10RR and enjoy the buzz of riding again. Both Misano and Montmeló tests have been positive. We were able to achieve what we wanted which was to be competitive in both our single lap pace and long run pace. Jerez is a great circuit and one I enjoy. I believe the work and conclusions we have arrived at during testing will help this weekend in the hot conditions when the grip level is not at the optimum. It will be strange not to have the SBK atmosphere with fans in the grandstand and a packed paddock show, but I’m looking forward to whatever is in store.” http://jonathan-rea.com/news/race-ready-rea-grid-jerez
Five times WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea will take to the grid this weekend for the first time since March 1 as the FIM Superbike World Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook
Motocard has opened a new store today in South Madrid, probably nicest motorcycle gear store in Europe! 1.300sqm full of the best brands like Alpinestars and Arai. Go check it you are close by!
This morning I used a race tyre, the soft tyre and then two qualifying tyres. That was the target this morning – to work on ultimate pace and see what we could do. After that we started to work with the set-up again and tried to confirm some items on the front to give me some more stability. We backed-to-backed both bikes to find if we confirmed the set-up of what we arrived with at the Misano test. I preferred that to my old base set-up so it seems like we have moved our base set-up away from what I had. I don’t know if that is because the temperature suits that kind of bike set-up or if my riding style has evolved during this lockdown period and it has changed. But what I am requesting from the bike now I have a good feeling with this one. In the afternoon I waited for the temperature to be at the maximum to do two longer runs on both bikes to understand some test items. We felt pretty happy and now we look forward to Jerez. http://jonathan-rea.com/news/rea-fastest-overall-catalunya-tests
In the January test I kind of understood where the Montmelo track went, and I really enjoyed it, but we were not really riding in anger. Today I really enjoyed the track and did a lot of laps. I felt like I just picked up automatically and I can feel the bike really well. The bike is turning great and that is the biggest issue we have had in the past – especially at Jerez. When the temperature comes up it is hard to turn around those long corners. I used the rear tyre so much because I was turning on the rear all the time. But it seems like we made a huge step in that direction because the bike is turning really well. I felt things were happening quite normally today. http://jonathan-rea.com/news/barcelona-test-starts-well-rea
Jonathan Rea enjoyed a full opening day of testing at KRT’s home circuit of Montmelo in Catalunya, ending the first day of the two-day te Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook
I have been enjoying ‘van life’ and I stayed out in Misano after the test. I have been pretty much cycling around Italy with Fabien Foret and my mate Gaz for a good few days, in the campground I often stay at in Misano while observing social distancing. I have been cycling a lot, basically smashing the pedals. I also stopped off at Andrew Pitt’s place in Lucca. He is an old team-mate of mine and when he retired I ended up staying at his place for a couple of months a few years ago. It was good to be able to hit the roads on the bicycle that I used to ride there in the Tuscan hills. At Fabien’s we also did a bit of riding with Regis Laconi – even though we cycled at the correct distance from each other he definitely knows how to pedal a bicycle, I will tell you that much! So I have been full gas training since Misano. Thinking about Lockdown as an athlete, it was a strange period. We did not know when we would ride the racebike again so having no fixed date I was just trying to brush up with things I have struggled with in the past, like flexibility, and try to drop a couple of kilos safely, which managed to do. I feel in really good place and I am just trying to take my foot off the gas a little bit now because it is coming up to crunch time. We will go to Montmelo for testing now. It is super-fast and flowing and really suits my natural style. We got an afternoon there at the start of the season to do our team video shoot and I enjoyed the place. Now we will get to ride the track with all our main competitors. We were right in the mix testing at Misano, as far as lap time and consistency goes. I started feeling good with the bike again and I left there feeling great. Feeling comfortable with the bike before we go to Jerez for the race weekend will be the most important thing. http://jonathan-rea.com/news/jonathan-rea-heads-testing-home-krt
The Catalunya based Kawasaki Racing Team will make its final major step to restarting the WorldSBK season with a two day test at the Mont Source: Jonathan Rea On Facebook
