REA SPINS UP THE RECORD PLAYER
J
onathan Rea (KRT) has
exerted so much dominance
over the entire WorldSBK pad-
dock since he joined Kawasaki
in 2015 that it cannot easily be
challenged by his rivals. At least
not consistently.
The feeling of Kawasaki and
Rea himself is that they have
been now been challenged by
the championship organizers
and the FIM in 2018, with lower
peak revs than any other four-
cylinder manufacturer under the
new balancing rules.
A lower-revving engine has
definitely had an ill-effect on
Rea, if leading the champion-
ship since the fourth of 10 races,
winning half the races started in
2018 and taking a 47-point lead
away from the Imola weekend in
Italy can be described as being
the results of an ill-effect. But he
and his tech backup have had
to climb a small mountain to get
to these even bigger peaks of
performance than the others.
The result at Imola was his first
double of 2018, and a gigantic
career achievement of drawing
level with Carl Fogarty's record
of 59 race wins, more than any
other rider until Rea came along.
All but 15 of Rea's 59 career
wins have come since he joined
Kawasaki in 2015, which gives
a new meaning to being consis-
tently fast, once he had a consis-
tently winning bike under him.
Or should we say package?
Kawasaki has seemingly found
IN
THE
WIND
P32
No matter what
rules WorldSBK
throws at Jonathan
Rea and Kawasaki,
they just keep on
winning. Imola was
no exception.
