WorldSBK Argentina: ‘We can’t have it all our own way’ - Rea

Jonathan Rea looked set as the on-track favourite to win the WorldSBK Superpole race at San Juan on Sunday morning.

But a false neutral put him out of the lead and effectively out of contention for what would have been his first race win since Estoril in May.

“If we go back to the Superpole Race, it was incredible,” said Rea. “My pace, everything, my feeling on the bike, great. I wanted to go to the front, which I felt like I could go away. Then unfortunately, just going down the hill, I just didn’t find first. I found neutral. A false neutral. It’s frustrating.

“I think with our gearbox it’s a more standard gear box. We have to go from second through neutral to first. So, there’s that one in a hundred chance. Combination of wheel in the air, how it touched down, my pressure on the gear lever… It’s frustrating because I felt like I had the goods to win, so very frustrated with myself, the bike, because we’re not getting too many chances and I’ve seen that as a chance.

“Race two I was really motivated because after having such a good feeling with the Superpole race, but right from the get-go I had zero grip. I could tell when I tipped into T2, the bike didn’t pick up like normal. I felt like a passenger the whole race. It was all I could do. So, I got beat up a little bit. Went into T10 and I couldn’t stop the bike from the rear and went ride. Sort of decided my race.

“I was with Vierge for a bit. Couldn’t pass him anywhere. He was taking so much time on the straight. At that time in the race, everyone with fresh tyres was on a similar pace. So, I sort of had to grind them down. Then the same with Rinaldi. But Alex had quite a good rhythm, similar to me. He was keeping me honest. I really had to push and dig deep to go