Staying On Top Of The World

Jonathan Rea talks longevity in the racing elite

- Adam Wheeler

“It is my biggest challenge to-date.” There is a hint of seriousness, some relish and perhaps a shade of concern as four times FIM Superbike World Champion Jonathan Rea converses through his current position in the 2019 WorldSBK series and regarding the dominant threat of MotoGP-convert and Ducati rival Alvaro Bautista. The Spaniard has hit the series hard and was undefeated in first three rounds of the revised three-race format on the shiny crimson Panigale meaning an early bloody nose for 32 year old Rea and his conquering Kawasaki Racing Team crew until he could respond – relieved – first a first win at Imola in Italy.

The Northern Irishman has been lauded, chased and criticised as he continued to prosper in WorldSBK. Even when increasingly convoluted technical regulations sliced rev limits away from the ZX-10RR in 2018 it wasn’t enough to stop the potent mix of Rea’s feeling and speed and the envious chemistry with his team to march to seventeen wins and twenty-three podium finishes.

Rea is just as quick – even quicker (his 2019 race time in Thailand for round two some ten seconds than ’18) – than previous seasons but has been frustrated by the new Bautista ‘intimidation’.

The nine-month 2019 campaign is still green when we meet in The Shard’s opulent hotel Shangri-La in London; the tallest building in England. Chatty, grounded and engaging, Rea is an articulate and thoughtful mood about his status in international motorcycle racing; his motivation still peaking without the recent inflammatory jabs from the Ducati camp.