WorldSBK Phillip Island: ‘Nervous race’ to second for Rea

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea was forced to settle for second on Saturday as wet weather and technical gremlins struck WorldSBK at Phillip Island.

With Rea out and on his own at the front early in Race One, maybe he had a plan to undo the hoodoo that Alvaro Bautista has had in terms of race pace from testing. Toprak Razgatlioglu had beaten Bautista in Superpole, so in the wet weather conditions that Rea excels in, maybe Race One would be Rea’s?

Unfortunately for him, although his early pace was enough for the lead for nine laps, Bautista passed audaciously and then moved away to win by over three seconds. “I was pretty convinced to make a wet set-up bike,” said Rea just after the opening race action of 2023. “I felt comfortable straightaway. Made a great start. We just changed something for the race after my last practice start to help me at the end of first gear to not have too much wheelie.

“I felt good straightaway. Just put my head down, then ran into a few issues with my shifter and I had to sort of re-learn how to ride the bike again.

“But when Alvaro came past, I could see I was better in some areas but he was better in others,” Rea continued. “I was trying to learn and adapt. It was difficult, especially off the gas on the edge of the tyre with negative torque on the bike because it was so easy just to be at full angle and lose the rear. Everything feels good, good, good. You’ve got traction and then all of a sudden the rear lets go.

“The harder I pushed, the more issues I had. The problem is when you see him [Bautista] going away and maybe Toprak, the gap coming down or going away, you’re trying and you’re trying, and then you have these issues. So it was like a nervous race. The conditions weren’t as grippy as it