Johnny Five Times in WorldSBK
A
s sporting comebacks go,
recovering from your main
championship rival winning 11
straight races, when he is a
rookie in the class, who was new
to the tires and brakes, and who
kept moving ahead in the points—
even at the tracks you used to
rule on—winning the 2019 series
with two whole rounds and six
races left is right up there with
any sporting comeback.
Jonathan Rea's recovery
to become a unique five-time
champion in WorldSBK basically
started from Imola onward, but
it was not seamless to start off
with. A mistake at Jerez was one
example, but as Alvaro Bautista
imploded, Rea started winning
where he could and proved that if
your pace and package is consis-
tent enough you can win champi-
onships.
In Magny Cours, France, Sep-
tember 28-29, Rea's triple podi-
ums, including one win, won him
the surprise early title in France,
not Argentina or Qatar.
"It has been the biggest chal-
lenge to date, and we have just
chipped away," Rea said. "To get
the championship done—not be-
fore the last round but before the
last two rounds—is something that
I thought was never possible. It is
a real lesson in never giving up."
The entire Magny Cours week-
end provided surprises, in fact,
from a wet Friday to an unfore-
seen wet Superpole, to Toprak
Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti
Racing) making his race-winning
breakthrough in WorldSBK—
twice.
From the sixth row in qualifying,
Razgatlioglu rampaged up to the
winner's top step in race one and
then the Superpole race.
The first race was a (literal)
knockabout of classic propor-
tions.
With so little time to set their
machines up on a dry track, even
IN
THE
WIND
P56
Jonathan Rea
confirmed his place as
the WorldSBK G.O.A.T.
with his fifth world
title. PHOTOS: GOLD & GOOSE