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race report
Round 07Brno, Czech Republic – 8-10 June 2018 World Superbike ChampionshipRecord player
Rea breaks Foggy’s record as another new face finds the top step
J
onathan Rea (KRT)
said he was not too
disappointed not to
reach a new all-time wins
record of 60 races at his
home round at Donington Park.
He was clearly happy enough
to have done it at Brno, and
in truly emphatic style. You
had to believe his feelings
when you saw how happy he
was on his slow down lap, and
afterwards in celebration, to
have overhauled the legendary
Carl Fogarty in victories.
After all Brno was
appropriate to reach such a
landmark. Brno was the place
he won his first WorldSSP race
back in 2008, before he went to
the Superbike class full time in- He even named his dog
after the Czech circuit.
He came to Brno looking for
two wins after getting a none
at Donington last time out,
but he got only one. At this
point in history, on his mission
to become the new GOAT of
WorldSBK, only one mattered.
Rea is truly a product of the
WorldSBK paddock, and BSB
before that, and now something
approaching the emperor of all
he surveys in this class. He won
the opener with so much ease
he said he could even take his
hand off the throttle at times
and ride to his pit board signals.
“I feel really fortunate to
have this opportunity, riding a
great bike and to be here every
weekend,” he said. “To win the
60th race in that fashion, being
dominant, was really nice.”
Rea is now well on his way
to breaking all significant SBK
records, but his second race
was to end before it had really
begun – more on that shortly.
Rea was a very blue-blooded
five seconds ahead of a
resurgent Marco Melandri
(Aruba.it Ducati) in Race 1 and
well over seven seconds up on
his teammate Tom Sykes, with
whom he was to have a major
falling out with on track, andafterwards, in Race 2.
Before all that chaos,
Sykes had extended his own
Superpole record to 45 on
Saturday, but in the following
Saturday race was again just
missing some degree of ability
to corner like he wanted to. He
ended up happy with third, in
the circumstances at least.
Melandri, with a near-fix to
his machine’s rear-end wobbles- which had been dramatic to
watch and experience for many
rounds – after a Brno test a
month ago, saw light at the end
of the tunnel after a disastrous
previous round in the UK.
The disaster this time for him
happened when his rear brake
lever broke (for the third time in
2018 it seems!) in Race 2 and he
ran off track. He did not crash,
but he did lose all the ground he
had made up to the lead. Marco
finally went 15th, scoring a
single point.
An even bigger disaster befell
the KRT squad, when their two
riders, Sykes and Rea, battled
in the early laps of the second
race. After a contact with Sykes
in the first corner, Rea decided
to pass and get away after two
laps, in very hot conditions.
With most of the top riders
feeling their way in to Race 2’s
new conditions, Rea’s decision
to go forward ended with him
passing inside Sykes, then
running wide on the exit of the
chicane. As both riders made
for the corner exit, Rea came
inward and Sykes’s line took
him outward, with Rea crashing
after they hit hard.
Arguments rage about who
caused it, and the riders had
polar opposite views – which
they made clear after the races.
Sykes said, “People can say
what they want but there was
nothing to it, just a racing
incident. There was no action
taken. I was speaking to race
direction, because clearly
somebody has complained, but
you can see when he passesREPORT GORDON RITCHIE PHOTOGRAPHY GOLD&GOOSE