WorldSBK Phillip Island: Rea ends 24-race losing streak in style

Jonathan Rea’s 24-race WorldSBK losing streak, his longest since he joined Kawasaki ended in dramtic and very complicated form when he and his team made the right decisions and took the right actions to leave him out front, on the right tyres when it mattered.

A wet start to the 21-lap Race One saw everyone out on full wets except Philipp Oettl, but as the track dried riders started to come in for slicks, with each rider or team chosing their moment to try and take most advantage.

Stay out on wet tyres too long, even in a big leading position, and you lose time to those who are on a better tyre solution for what was a consistently drying track. Come in too early and you risk crashing or not finding the grip you expected.

Rea decided when he was coming in, signalled his team and he duly won his first race since Portugal in May as team and rider got it all right and they headed the next closest rider, Toprak Razgatlioglu, by over six seconds.

Rea told bikeportnews.com,, “We sort of knew to expect anything, but we in detail before the race, also leading up to today, had a plan to cover all bases. Just then, it was about me being calm on the bike, not making silly decisions.”

He was happier in the dry conditions than the wet, it appeared. “A few times in the wet, I didn’t feel myself at the beginning of the race. I didn’t have a lot of grip out there. I was able to pass Toprak in the brakes at one but just scared to haul it up. I ended up off the track and a bit of grass-tracking.

‘Then I was able to catch them pretty easy and just thought, okay, just ride slow, because this track is going to dry out and I don’t want to waste my tyre. Then Alex came through with a really good pace. At that point I thought, hey, roll the