2023-06-04 17:47:23
Record world champion Jonathan Rea got everything out of his Kawasaki on the Misano World Circuit. The fact that that was only enough for places 5, 5 and 4 is the new reality of the most successful Superbike rider.
18.6 and 21.1 seconds behind the winner Alvaro Bautista in the two main races speak for themselves – Rea now has no chance on the ZX-10RR.
“I didn’t give up because of that,” said the 36-year-old, who is as motivated as ever to get to work. “I had problems with the brake lever, it mightn’t be readjusted. That’s why I mightn’t fight with Bassani, I didn’t feel safe behind him. With a little distance to him, I was able to keep my lap time. My starts are very good this year. But we have to put ourselves in a position where we can overtake.”
Rea knows that his Kawasaki has significantly less acceleration than the Ducati. “But look at what Toprak does on the Yamaha,” said the 118-time race winner. “That’s incredible. The Yamaha doesn’t have much more power than our bike. When I ride him on the straights, the bikes are very similar. But he was ten seconds ahead of me. So we have to improve. Yamaha should be our benchmark – at least. Toprak made the difference at Misano and was much stronger.”
Toprak took places 3, 2 and 2, in the world championship the Turk is second with 212 points behind high-flyer Bautista (298). Rea is fourth with 129 points behind Locatelli (150).
How does a driver deal with it when he finishes 5, 10 or 20 seconds behind the winner, SPEEDWEEK.com asked. “I tick off something like that quickly,” Rea replied. «Our goal is not Ducati, as outstanding as Alvaro drives. Toprak is our benchmark, even if he does amazing work too. On a good day we should be able to compete with him, this weekend wasn’t like that. The positive thing is that I was able to close the gap to Locatelli, that’s a small victory. The current situation cannot be changed quickly. What I cannot accept is that we have the same pace as last year.”
| Result Superbike World Championship Misano, race 2: | |||
| Pos | driver | Motorrad | Diff |
| 1. | Alvaro Bautista (E) | Ducati | |
| 2. | Toprak Razgatlioglu (TR) | Yamaha | + 8,446 sec |
| 3. | Axel Bassani (I) | Ducati | + 18,368 |
| 4. | Jonathan Rea (GB) | Kawasaki | + 20,174 |
| 5. | Xavier Vierge (E) | Honda | + 22,344 |
| 6. | Andrea Locatelli (I) | Yamaha | + 23,307 |
| 7. | Danilo Petrucci (I) | Ducati | + 23,552 |
| 8. | Garrett Gerloff (USA) | BMW | + 24,905 |
| 9. | Philipp Öttl (D) | Ducati | + 25,255 |
| 10. | Remy Gardner (AUS) | Yamaha | + 27,253 |
| 11. | Dominique Aegerter (CH) | Yamaha | + 27,529 |
| 12. | Loris Baz (F) | BMW | + 36,856 |
| 13. | Tom Sykes (GB) | BMW | + 38,066 |
| 14. | Scott Redding (GB) | BMW | + 52,235 |
| 15. | Hafiz Syahrin (MAL) | Honda | + > 1 min |
| 16. | Isaac Vinales (E) | Kawasaki | + > 1 min |
| – | Bradley Ray (GB) | Yamaha | |
| – | Michael Rinaldi (I) | Ducati | |
| – | Lorenzo Baldassarri (I) | Yamaha | |
| – | Luca Vitali (I) | Kawasaki | |
| – | Alex Lowes (GB) | Kawasaki | |
| – | Ryo Mizuno (J) | Honda | |
| – | Tito Rabat (E) | Kawasaki | |
| Result Superbike World Championship Misano, Superpole-Race: | |||
| Pos | driver | Motorrad | Diff |
| 1. | Alvaro Bautista (E) | Ducati | |
| 2. | Toprak Razgatlioglu (TR) | Yamaha | + 0,101 sec |
| 3. | Michael Rinaldi (I) | Ducati | + 0,738 |
| 4. | Axel Bassani (I) | Ducati | + 2,239 |
| 5. | Jonathan Rea (GB) | Kawasaki | + 2,490 |
| 6. | Alex Lowes (GB) | Kawasaki | + 3,955 |
| 7. | Andrea Locatelli (I) | Yamaha | + 1 Rd. |
| 8. | Xavier Vierge (E) | Honda | + 1 Rd. |
| 9. | Garrett Gerloff (USA) | BMW | + 1 Rd. |
| 10. | Philipp Öttl (D) | Ducati | + 1 Rd. |
| 11. | Scott Redding (GB) | BMW | + 1 Rd. |
| 12. | Lorenzo Baldassarri (I) | Yamaha | + 1 Rd. |
| 13. | Loris Baz (F) | BMW | + 1 Rd. |
| 14. | Bradley Ray (GB) | Yamaha | + 1 Rd. |
| 15. | Hafiz Syahrin (MAL) | Honda | + 1 Rd. |
| 16. | Tito Rabat (E) | Kawasaki | + 1 Rd. |
| 17. | Isaac Vinales (E) | Kawasaki | + 1 Rd. |
| 18. | Luca Vitali (I) | Kawasaki | + 1 Rd. |
| 19. | Ryo Mizuno (J) | Honda | + 1 Rd. |
| 20. | Tom Sykes (GB) | BMW | + 1 Rd. |
| 21. | Dominique Aegerter (CH) | Yamaha | + 1 Rd. |
| – | Iker Lecuona (L) | Honda | |
| – | Danilo Petrucci (I) | Ducati | |
| – | Gabriele Ruiu (I) | BMW | |
| – | Remy Gardner (AUS) | Yamaha | |
| Result Superbike World Championship Misano, race 1: | |||
| Pos | driver | Motorrad | Diff |
| 1. | Alvaro Bautista (E) | Ducati | |
| 2. | Michael Rinaldi (I) | Ducati | + 5,221 sec |
| 3. | Toprak Razgatlioglu (TR) | Yamaha | + 8,971 |
| 4. | Axel Bassani (I) | Ducati | + 14,285 |
| 5. | Jonathan Rea (GB) | Kawasaki | + 18,594 |
| 6. | Dominique Aegerter (CH) | Yamaha | + 19,021 |
| 7. | Alex Lowes (GB) | Kawasaki | + 21,036 |
| 8. | Iker Lecuona (L) | Honda | + 23,751 |
| 9. | Remy Gardner (AUS) | Yamaha | + 24,011 |
| 10. | Xavier Vierge (E) | Honda | + 29,081 |
| 11. | Scott Redding (GB) | BMW | + 29,430 |
| 12. | Andrea Locatelli (I) | Yamaha | + 30,139 |
| 13. | Garrett Gerloff (USA) | BMW | + 30,562 |
| 14. | Philipp Öttl (D) | Ducati | + 33,210 |
| 15. | Lorenzo Baldassarri (I) | Yamaha | + 34,858 |
| 16. | Tom Sykes (GB) | BMW | + 35,778 |
| 17. | Loris Baz (F) | BMW | + 38,489 |
| 18. | Bradley Ray (GB) | Yamaha | + 40,374 |
| 19. | Tito Rabat (E) | Kawasaki | + 56,950 |
| 20. | Isaac Vinales (E) | Kawasaki | + > 1 min |
| 21. | Ryo Mizuno (J) | Honda | + > 1 min |
| – | Danilo Petrucci (I) | Ducati | |
| – | Hafiz Syahrin (MAL) | Honda | |
| – | Luca Vitali (I) | Kawasaki | |
| – | Gabriele Ruiu (I) | BMW | |
| Superbike World Championship 2023: status following 15 of 36 races | |||
| Pos | driver | Motorrad | Points |
| 1. | Alvaro Bautista (E) | Ducati | 298 |
| 2. | Toprak Razgatlioglu (TR) | Yamaha | 212 |
| 3. | Andrea Locatelli (I) | Yamaha | 150 |
| 4. | Jonathan Rea (GB) | Kawasaki | 129 |
| 5. | Axel Bassani (I) | Ducati | 126 |
| 6. | Michael Rinaldi (I) | Ducati | 99 |
| 7. | Dominique Aegerter (CH) | Yamaha | 88 |
| 8. | Xavier Vierge (E) | Honda | 87 |
| 9. | Alex Lowes (GB) | Kawasaki | 75 |
| 10. | Iker Lecuona (L) | Honda | 64 |
| 10. | Danilo Petrucci (I) | Ducati | 64 |
| 12. | Remy Gardner (AUS) | Yamaha | 59 |
| 13. | Garrett Gerloff (USA) | BMW | 51 |
| 14. | Philipp Öttl (D) | Ducati | 46 |
| 15. | Scott Redding (GB) | BMW | 41 |
| 16. | Michael vd Mark (NL) | BMW | 19 |
| 17. | Loris Baz (F) | BMW | 13 |
| 18. | Lorenzo Baldassarri (I) | Yamaha | 7 |
| 18. | Hafiz Syahrin (MAL) | Honda | 7 |
| 20. | Bradley Ray (GB) | Yamaha | 5 |
| 21. | Tom Sykes (GB) | Coffee/BMW | 4 |
| 22. | Ivo Lopes (PT) | BMW | 1 |
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#situation #changed