Jonathan Rea OBE (born 2 February 1987) is a Northern Irish professional motorcycle racer. He competes in the Superbike World Championship and is a six-time champion in the series.[1]
| Jonathan Rea OBE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Rea at Donington Park in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Northern Irish | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 February 1987 Larne, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | Pata Prometeon Yamaha | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bike number | 65 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | jonathan-rea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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He is the first to have won the Superbike World Championship six times: in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. He also owns the highest number of SBK race wins (107), fastest laps, podiums and total points (over 5,000 gained until the end of August 2021).
Previously he was runner-up in the Supersport World Championship for the Ten Kate Honda team in 2008, and runner-up in the British Superbike Championship in 2007 for the HM Plant Honda team. He was named Irish Motorcyclist of the Year in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2016.[2][3] Rea made two MotoGP starts in 2012, scoring points on both occasions, but has not been a regular rider in the championship.
He was nominated for the 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, finishing in second place.
Career
editEarly career
editFor much of his career he has been backed by Red Bull. Rea was British 60cc motocross runner up in 1997, before moving up through the motocross classes. He was not originally keen to switch to circuit racing as he considered it to be boring, but he was persuaded to by friends Michael and Eugene Laverty, contesting the 2003 British 125cc Championship. His 2004 season was interrupted by a crash at Knockhill.
In 2005 Red Bull set up a British Superbike ride for him on a factory-spec Honda Fireblade. He showed his potential by snatching a pole position from the established names, and finished 16th in the series despite missing two races, at Snetterton after a heavy testing crash, and at Oulton Park after the death of a junior teammate in the previous event.
British Superbike Championship
editHe started the 2006 season strongly, lying sixth in the British Superbike Championship after five meetings. At Oulton Park he finished 3rd in race two, before being demoted to fourth as he was deemed to have gained a place from Shane Byrne on the last lap illegally, although he claimed that he crossed the infield grass as he was squeezed out of road. He qualified fifth at Mondello Park before heavy rain forced the cancellation of the races, and claimed that he had been on race tyres, rather than special soft qualifying compounds. He impressed at Mallory Park too, qualifying on the front row and running second until high-siding in race one, despite having no race engineer for the weekend. At Knockhill he took pole position, and followed a fourth in race one with his first career podium in race two, passing Leon Haslam for second with two laps to go. He ultimately took fourth in the championship, ahead of the factory Honda of Karl Harris.
He took Harris' factory ride for 2007, alongside reigning champion Ryuichi Kiyonari of Japan. After four-second places, he finally took his first win in the second race at Mondello Park,[4] after dominating wet practice but struggling in the dry first race. A double victory at Knockhill followed,[5] taking him to within nine points of Kiyonari at the top of the standings – retaining this position after Oulton Park in which each HM Plant Honda rider won once and crashed once. He ultimately finished as the series runner-up, 26 points behind Kiyonari and 20 ahead of Leon Haslam.
Also in 2007, he raced with Kiyonari and won a three-hour endurance race, and the pair was then entered for the Suzuka 8-Hour race on a factory Honda machine. Plans for him to contest the British MotoGP round on a Team Roberts bike were scrapped in favour of extra Suzuka preparation.[6] He attended the 2007 World Superbike round at Brands Hatch, as he began to explore international options.[7]
Supersport World Championship
editIn September 2007 he signed a three-year progressive deal with Ten Kate Honda to ride in the Supersport World Championship for the 2008 season, and the Superbike World Championship for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.[8] He turned down the option of staying in British Superbikes with either HM Plant Honda or move to Rizla Suzuki, and turned down a World Superbike ride with the factory Xerox Ducati team. In his first race at Losail in Qatar, he crashed, badly injuring a finger.[9] At Assen he challenged for a first WSS win, losing by 0.014 seconds to teammate Andrew Pitt.[10] He did win for Ten Kate at the Donington Park British Supersport race, which the team entered as practice for the later WSS race there. His first World Supersport win came at Brno, and he immediately followed this with a second win at Brands Hatch, although the race was stopped early after the fatal accident of Craig Jones with seven laps remaining in the race.[11] A third win followed at Vallelunga, pushing him back up to second in the standings behind Pitt. His chances of winning the title were ended by a wild move from Robbin Harms in the penultimate round at Magny-Cours. He did remount to finish tenth in the race.[12]
Superbike World Championship
edit
For 2009, Rea rode for the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team in World Superbikes.[13] He made the switch before the end of 2008, meaning that he made his WSBK debut in the final 2008 round at Portimão. His first podium came in the second race at round six at Kyalami.[14] Another third place followed in the very next round at Miller Motorsport Park,[15] before his first WSBK win came at Misano, after a frantic battle with the Ducati duo of Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio.[16] This followed a chaotic first race that day; his bike failed on the dummy grid, he received a ride-through penalty for being given a lift back to the pits by Kiyonari on the warm-up lap, and when he switched to a wet set-up bike he – like teammate Carlos Checa – had trouble getting the second bike fired up.[17] Rea missed several rounds in 2011 after sustained arm and collarbone injuries in a high-speed accident during warm-up for the Misano event. Rea missed the final four races of 2013 due to a broken femur.
He added a further win in Germany to finish fifth overall and second best rookie behind top rookie, Ben Spies, who won the World Superbike championship that year. He remained with Ten Kate for 2010, and scored a double victory at the team's home round at Assen,[18] however this was followed by two crashes at Monza.[19] A further crash in Superpole at Miller Motorsport Park injured his neck and shoulder, though he still raced the next day, scoring a 14th and an eighth.[20] He scored only seven points at Misano, as he fell behind Carlos Checa in the battle for third place in the championship standings.[21]
For the 2011 season, Rea stayed with the Ten Kate Racing family as its Honda-supported World Superbike team received backing from global lubricants manufacturer, Castrol, reviving the famous Castrol Honda name that saw World Superbike championship victories with John Kocinski in 1997 and Colin Edwards in 2000 and 2002.
After spending his entire career riding Honda machinery, Rea joined Kawasaki Racing Team as Tom Sykes' new teammate for the 2015 season. Rea dominated the season and won his maiden World Superbike title, with 14 wins.[22]
Rea remained with Kawasaki in World Superbike championship until 2024.
He retained the title in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 championship,
becoming the first man ever to win six successive superbike world championships. On 9 June 2018, Rea won the first race at Brno to take his 60th career win and surpass the record of Carl Fogarty.[23]
MotoGP World Championship
editRea made his MotoGP debut in 2012, replacing the injured Casey Stoner for the Repsol Honda team. He finished 8th in the San Marino race, held at Misano in Italy, and 7th at Motorland Aragon in Spain, before returning to World Superbike duties.
Personal life
editRea's family background lies in motorcycle road racing. His father, Johnny, competed at the Isle of Man TT and took his sole victory during the 1989 Junior TT race.[24] His grandfather, John, sponsored Joey Dunlop.
Rea married Tatiana Weston, an Australian known as 'Tarsh' (whom he met when she worked promoting UK-based superbike team Honda Racing) at a 2012 ceremony in the Lake District.[25][26][27]
Queen's University Belfast conferred an honorary doctorate on Rea during December 2019.[28]
In 2021, Rea obtained his UK motorcycle licence for solo road machines by undertaking a course in his native Northern Ireland having passed with no minors and having the driving instructor pass him a laurel and bottle of champagne for his achievements.[29][30]
Rea was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours[31][32] and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours,[33][34] both for services to motorcycle racing.
Career statistics
editAll-time statistics
edit| Series | Years | Races | Poles | Podiums | Wins | 2nd place | 3rd place | Fastest Laps | Titles | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Superbike Championship | 2005–2007 | 72 | 7 | 20 | 5 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 719 | |
| Supersport World Championship | 2008 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 164 | |
| Superbike World Championship | 2008– | 387 | 40 | 249 | 118 | 84 | 47 | 102 | 6 | 5891.5 | |
| MotoGP World Championship | 2012 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | |
| Total | 473 | 47 | 275 | 126 | 96 | 53 | 107 | 6 | 6791.5 | ||
British Superbike Championship
editRaces by year
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos | Pts | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | ||||
| 2005 | Honda | BHI 13 |
BHI 18 |
THR 16 |
THR 12 |
MAL 14 |
MAL 14 |
OUL 12 |
OUL 9 |
MOP Ret |
MOP Ret |
CRO 7 |
CRO Ret |
KNO Ret |
KNO 9 |
SNE | SNE | SIL 12 |
SIL 11 |
CAD Ret |
CAD Ret |
OUL | OUL | DON Ret |
DON 11 |
BHGP 10 |
BHGP 10 |
16th | 64 |
| 2006 | Honda | BHI 5 |
BHI Ret |
DON 8 |
DON 5 |
THR 4 |
THR 5 |
OUL 8 |
OUL 4 |
MOP C |
MOP C |
MAL Ret |
MAL 8 |
SNE 4 |
SNE 20 |
KNO 4 |
KNO 2 |
OUL 5 |
OUL 4 |
CRO 2 |
CRO 13 |
CAD Ret |
CAD 3 |
SIL 4 |
SIL 5 |
BHGP 18 |
BHGP 3 |
4th | 248 |
| 2007 | Honda | BHGP 3 |
BHGP 2 |
THR Ret |
THR 4 |
SIL 2 |
SIL 3 |
OUL 4 |
OUL 5 |
SNE 2 |
SNE 2 |
MOP 4 |
MOP 1 |
KNO 1 |
KNO 1 |
OUL Ret |
OUL 1 |
MAL 2 |
MAL Ret |
CRO 2 |
CRO 2 |
CAD Ret |
CAD 1 |
DON 5 |
DON 7 |
BHI 2 |
BHI 2 |
2nd | 407 |
Supersport World Championship
editRaces by year
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Honda | QAT Ret |
AUS 5 |
ESP 6 |
NED 2 |
ITA Ret |
GER 6 |
SMR 3 |
CZE 1 |
GBR 1 |
EUR 3 |
ITA 1 |
FRA 10 |
POR | 2nd | 164 |
Superbike World Championship
editBy season
editRaces by year
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
* Season still in progress.
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
editBy season
edit| Season | Class | Motorcycle | Team | Race | Win | Podium | Pole | FLap | Pts | Plcd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | MotoGP | Honda | Repsol Honda Team | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 21st |
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
By class
edit| Class | Seasons | 1st GP | 1st Pod | 1st Win | Race | Win | Podiums | Pole | FLap | Pts | WChmp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MotoGP | 2012 | 2012 San Marino | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | ||
| Total | 2012 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
Races by year
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Class | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | MotoGP | Honda | QAT | SPA | POR | FRA | CAT | GBR | NED | GER | ITA | USA | IND | CZE | RSM 8 |
ARA 7 |
JPN | MAL | AUS | VAL | 21st | 17 |
Suzuka 8 Hours results
edit| Year | Team | Co-Riders | Bike | Pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 |  F.C.C. TSR
|
Kousuke Akiyoshi Tadayuki Okada
|
Honda CBR1000RRW | 1st |
| 2018 | Team Green Kawasaki
|
Kazuma Watanabe Leon Haslam
|
Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 3rd |
| 2019 | Kawasaki Racing Team Suzuka 8H
|
Leon Haslam Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
|
Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1st |
| 2022 | Kawasaki Racing Team Suzuka 8H
|
Leon Haslam Alex Lowes
|
Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 2nd |
References
edit- ^ Lowes named as Haslam replacement at Kawasaki crash.net, 11 October 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019
- ^ Ryder, Joy (20 January 2009). "Jonathan Rea wins Irish Motorcyclist of the Year award". World Superbike News. Buzzin' Fly Limited. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ BBC, Northern Ireland (30 January 2016). "Jonathan Rea named Irish Motorcyclist of the Year". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ Moakes, Dan (17 June 2007). "Jonathan Rea's first SBK win at Mondello Park". F1 Network.net. Durham Associates Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ Moakes, Dan (12 July 2007). "Jonathan Rea takes Superbike double at Knockhill". F1 Network.net. Durham Associates Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rea out – Kurtis replaces Kenny". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 18 June 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Q&A: Jonathan Rea – EXCLUSIVE". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 3 August 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rea to ride in World Supersport". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 September 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ Carnell, Sarah (23 February 2008). "Jonathan Rea may require surgery following crash". Motorcycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rea pipped for victory in Assen". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 April 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Huge Jones accident stops race". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 3 August 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ Marsen, Liam (5 October 2008). "Andrew Pitt takes win and championship". Motorcycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ Guy, Michael (24 September 2008). "Rea signs WSB Ten Kate deal". Motorcycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Debut podium delight for Jonathan Rea". London Bikers. Media Panther Ltd. 17 May 2009. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rea and Laverty take podium spots". BBC Sport. BBC. 31 May 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rea clinches first Superbike win". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 June 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
- ^ "Rea basks in maiden WSBK glory". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 21 June 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rea secures breathtaking Assen double". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 25 April 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rea 'excited, not down in the dumps'". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rea close to full fitness for Misano". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "Rea eager to avoid Misano repeat at Brno". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
- ^ "World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea secures championship". BBC Sport. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ "World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea breaks Carl Fogarty record with 60th victory". BBC Sport. 9 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
- ^ "Race Results – Isle of Man TT Official Website". Isle of Man TT Official Website. 5 March 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ Rea's wife on how she keeps bike champ's feet on the ground Belfast Telegraph, 16 December 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2019
- ^ Jonathan Rea, an Irishman in Australia, racing on ‘home ground’ for love Gazetta.it, 15 February 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2019
- ^ Proud Rea hails ‘incredible’ day as world champion receives MBE Belfast Newsletter, 21 November 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2019
- ^ "Jonathan Rea: Motorcycling champion receives honorary doctorate from QUB". BBC Sport (Northern Ireland). 10 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ Jonathan Rea finally ‘king of the road’ with bike licence News Letter, 17 July 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021
- ^ Passed Master – Jonathan Rea gains his motorcycle licence Kawasaki UK, 15 July 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021
- ^ "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B21.
- ^ "Queen's Honours: Awards for Rory Best, Jonathan Rea and Steven Davis". BBC Sport (Northern Ireland). 16 June 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
- ^ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N14.
- ^ "New Year Honours 2022: Jason Kenny receives a knighthood and Laura Kenny made a dame". BBC Sport. 31 December 2021.
External links
edit
- Jonathan Rea at MotoGP.com
- Jonathan Rea at WorldSBK.com
