Johnny Rea : A Rea of Light
Published by Neil Everett
25 July 2008, 16:49
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You only have to look at the warm reception that Johnny Rea received on a cold day at Donington to see what the fans think of him.
Rea is a bubbly, friendly, jovial character who can win over the toughest of crowds with his cheeky smile, quick wit and humour.
Rea has been riding bikes since a young age, winning his first title, the British 60cc Motocross title aged just 10, he only decided to switch to track racing back in 2003, aged just sixteen.
Rea spent some time in the 125cc and BSS series but he really blossomed when he made the jump to the British Superbike series. It wasn’t long before he was unsettling the feathers of a few of the BSB regulars. His pace was apparent for all to see. However his first season in BSB wasn’t one to remember with the sad loss of his Red Bull Junior team mate Chris Jones in an accident at Oulton Park and sustaining an injury to himself at Snetterton, missing the race. Rea still managed to finish 16th in the championship and took pole position in one of the rounds.
2006 was when he would establish himself as a future title contender. The season was dominated by three riders, HM Plant Honda’s Japanese superstar Ryuichi Kiyonari and the Airwaves Ducati duo of Gregorio Lavilla and Leon Haslam. Outside of the factory trio it was often Rea who managed to mix it with the big boys for the remaining podium places. He was denied his first BSB podium due to a technicality, but soon put that to right by taking second place in race 2 at Knockhill in Scotland. Rea finished the year fourth in the championship, behind the factory trio but also in front of many established names. This prompted Neil Tuxworth to draft him into the HM Plant factory team for 2007 and as usual Johnny didn’t disappoint.
It’s not easy being the team mate to the reigning British Superbike champion, but it seems someone didn’t tell Johnny. Rea spent the early season out pacing Kiyonari in testing and continued this form into the early races. A mechanical at Thruxton put a dent in Rea’s title challenge but he was not to be denied his chance to shine. After a trip away to Japan to compete in the 300km race with team mate Kiyonari, which they won, Rea returned to BSB action with renewed confidence and won race 2 at Mondello Park, he backed this up with his first double by taking both rounds at Knockhill and then followed that up with two more wins before the end of the season.
Rea finished the championship in 2nd place just twenty four points behind eventually champion and team mate Kiyonari. However he had done enough to ensure his progression. BSB teams were lining up to secure the signature of the young star for 2008, but the world scene was calling, with Ten Kate Honda and the Factory Xerox Ducati team both chasing the 20 years olds talents.
Rea eventually decided to move to Ten Kate Honda on a three year performance related contract. He would spend the first year in WSS learning the new tracks, and then hopefully would have the opportunity to move to World Superbike with Ten Kate in 2009/2010, so it would be vital for Rea to perform on the big stage.
It didn’t take long for Johnny to get to grips with the new Supersport machine as he managed to qualify on the front row of the grid for the opening round in Qatar. He made the perfect start to the race, leading the field round until unfortunately high siding his CBR600RR out of the race approaching the end of the opening lap. Rea suffered damage to his finger, but with another race in Philip Island so close opted to skip any surgery.
He spent the next few rounds gaining his confidence back in the bike and managed to score some very impressive points finishes.
At round four in Assen, he burst back to the front of the pack with an impressive race performance, battling with team mate, Andrew Pitt throughout the race for the spoils, only losing out by just 0.014 of a second at the line.
Rea was pleased with his first Supersport podium but it was clear that he had more to come. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to showcase this in the next round at Monza because a technical fault caused Johnny to retire while in a good points scoring position.
In need of a confidence boost, he returned home to Donington for some testing. The world Supersport field were not scheduled to ride in Salt Lake City, so Ten Kate Honda thought it would be a good idea to get some data for the race at Donington later that year. Both Rea and Pitt would be wildcard entrants into the British Supersport race.
It provided a much needed confidence boost for Rea as he managed to steal a march on his team mate and take a victory in front of a home crowd delighted to see him back to winning ways. It was an important victory for Rea who managed to prove for the first time that season that he could duel with his team mate and come out on top. Both Rea and Pitt were disqualified from the result however as Ten Kate never submitted the bikes for scrutineering.
Rea returned to Supersport action in Germany and managed to gain some more solid points in a restarted race which saw the luckless Tommy Hill re-break his right femur in a first corner incident, before heading out to Misano where although struggling with tyre degradation, he managed to obtain his second podium finish of the season.
Rea has now competed in eight rounds of the championship, competing on circuits that are new to him and yet apart from his crash in the opening round and a mechanical failure which robbed Rea of points he has never finished outside of the top 6, which is extremely impressive considering the competition that he is up against.
Rea’s performance in Brno was staggering, running at the front with Craig Jones and Andrew Pitt in the early going, before making a slight mistake running wide at the lowest point on the circuit. With the supersport class being so highly competitive that mistake could have cost Rea the race, but he wasn’t to be denied. He knew he had a good race package underneath him and slowly worked his way back to the front, before having a dogged battle with Hannspree counterparts Pitt and Harms over the last few laps.
Rea returned the favour to his team mate for his Assen defeat, winning at the line by just 0.020 of a second and becoming the first British winner of a supersport race since 2002. With the next two rounds of the Supersport championship on home soil for Rea, he’ll be looking to mount a challenge for the championship and put himself in contention for a promotion to WSB for 2009. Rea is currently in Japan, competing in the prestigious Suzuki 8 hour, he has had an off in practise, but has managed to get away uninjured and the team have managed to set a good pace in second practise today. One thing is for sure, we haven’t heard the last of Johnny Rea for this year. Watch this space.
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