Top Five Finish For Rea

In the opening race of the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli WorldSBK weekend KRT Jonathan Rea finished fifth in the warm and dry weather conditions.

Rea qualified sixth in Superpole. He was unable to improve his position in the final minutes of the session when it was ended due to another rider having an issue with his machine, resulting in red flags being shown. For track safety reasons it was decided by the officials no to restart and the results were finalised.

The WorldSBK race was shortened by a lap, to 20 laps, due to another rider’s machine having a technical problem on the grid. Once underway Rea had a to fight for position behind the podium places. In the end he was able to fend off the pressure from Dominique Aegerter, who was close behind, to finish fifth.

A ten-lap Superpole Race, and then a 21-lap Race Two, will conclude the Misano WorldSBK action on Sunday 4 June.

STATEMENTS:

Jonathan Rea said: “I said to the guys in the garage that I have not fought as hard for a race win as I did for that fifth place. At the end myself and Aegerter swapped places quite a few times. In the beginning I felt quite OK. The bike was working and I felt like my pace was OK. As soon as I started to get into the race and the tyres dropped a bit I had to ride in a completely different way, and it wasn’t working. The bike, with grip, feels like a different one. When the grip drops I need a different set-up to get the benefit when the tyres are moving around. We have a good idea how we can fix the problem but it is just going to take a lot of time. So it is frustrating.”