WorldSBK Donington: Overheating discs slow Rea

Prospects of the WorldSBK Championship fight closing up again became reality at Donington, especially after Alvaro Bautista fell on Saturday and no-scored.

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea was a main benefactor and although Bautista got past him in race two, leaving Rea with a 2-3 finish on Sunday, the points gap narrowed to 17 between the Spanish leader and the chasing Norther irishman.

Rea looked like he may have been able to put triple race winner Toprak Razgatlioglu into second in the final race, but it was not be - and Rea lost one position at the end, not Toprak. There was a reason why Rea had to drop back, however.

“I felt really good for half race - everything was working okay,” said Rea. “I was able to understand where I was good and where I had to improve. There were certain areas I was better. I really overcooked the front brakes.

“I was right behind in the slip streamalways. I went into the Melbourne loop two times and the lever was coming right back to the bar. It was all my power to not hit Toprak sometimes. So, I had to take some time just to cool down a little bit, fix my rhythm.

“Then Alvaro was coming with really strong pace in the middle at the very end of the race. Unfortunately, he came through. It was all I could do just to keep my rhythm. But, we made some good changes from yesterday to day with the bikes.

“We’re learning still a lot about the bike in the hot temperatures. It really was a weak area for us and I think now we can be happy, especially after Misano. I felt a lot closer here. It’s encouraging to go to Most and see what we can do there.”

Rea, for all his other great experience, had a new one in the Superpole race.

“We used the SCQ tyre for the first time,” he explained. “I was quite convinced