REA STEPS UP AGAIN
I
f there was any doubt that
Kawasaki Racing Team's
Jonathan Rea may have taken
his foot off the gas after winning
the championship last time out
in Spain, a weird race day of
two halves put any such notion
to rest at the World Superbike
round in France, October 4.
In scoring another two wins—
his 13th and 14th of the year, and
his fifth double—he made up for
not even getting on the podium
in Spain during his champion-
ship-winning weekend in the
best way possible.
Clearly a man happy in his
work Rea was grinning from
ear to ear from the start of the
weekend and even more tickled
at the end of it.
"I am super-happy, espe-
cially to win in the wet and the
dry," said Rea. "It was a double
bonus. When I got back here it
was just so important to me to
get back on the podium. Pirelli
brought my favorite SC2 front
tire and immediately from the
first session I felt really comfort-
able again."
Rea is now aiming for the all-
time high points score in a sea-
son at the final round in Losail.
He now has 528 and needs to
reach and surpass Colin Ed-
wards' record 552, set in 2002.
After overnight rains had left
the Circuit de Nevers track wet
the riders knew that the surface
would be treacherous, as it
seems to be in any damp condi-
tions at Magny-Cours. It got
worse for them near the end of
warm-up.
An unnoticed oil spill saw
the first Superbike race cut to
19 laps, with the track being
cleaned right up to the point of
the sighting lap.
After that horrible start to the
IN
THE
WIND
P38
Too easy! Rea
cruises over the line
to take yet another
race victory.