Rea Crashes Out Of Magny Cours Race One.

Jonathan Rea crashed out of WorldSBK race 1 at Magny Cours today on the first lap and will undergo a medical assessment tomorrow, Sunday, to determine if he will compete in the two remain races of the weekend

Jonathan was confident of an opportunity to fight for a positive result in Race 1, starting the race aggressively on his choice of slick tyres. However, at the end of Lap 1, as Nicolo Bulega suffered a massive high-side directly in front of Yamaha’s #65 bike, Rea was forced to react to avoid the accident and also went down at the final chicane. 

Rea suffered a deep laceration to his right thumb in the crash and was transferred from the circuit’s medical centre to a specialist hand hospital for treatment. He will return to Magny-Cours tonight and a decision on whether he will ride tomorrow will be taken in the morning. 

Track action for the FIM Superbike World Championship class is due to resume at 9:00 CEST for the 10-minute Warm Up session, followed by the Superpole Race at 11:00 and Race 2 at a later time of 15:30.

Jonathan Rea – SP: P8 / Race 1: DNF

“It was not the day I planned! I felt there was a good opportunity for us when we were on the grid and I was pretty clear with my slick tyre choice. Not a great start but I was making progress in Lap 1 and going into the last chicane, Bulega was a bit off line and went down so I just tried to avoid him on the switch back but I just got a wet patch or a bit off line and I was down as well. Unfortunately, my hand got stuck under the handlebar and on my thumb joint, the tarmac ground away the skin and it is really not very nice to look at. As soon as I saw it and felt the throbbing, I knew something wasn’t right and I ran directly to the Medical Centre by the last corner... Really frustrating, I was hoping to bring everyone some good news from the race today but unfortunately there is still a black cloud following us around at the moment.”