With the UK’s most recent phase of its roadmap out of the COVID-19 restrictions postponed to July 19 due to an increase in cases of the so-called Delta variant – which has its origins in India – many outdoor events have had to take place with more limited audiences than the numbers hoped for.
Exceptions will be made for UK Government pilot events that do not include the Donington WSBK Round.
Next week’s UK round of WSBK was limited to just 4,000 spectators for the event, while the download festival at the same location last weekend was open to 10,000 fans as it was a pilot event.
And on Thursday it was confirmed that the British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone in July will welcome 140,000 spectators, while the last three Euro 2020 matches will be open to more than 60,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium.
With much of British motorsport stifled by restrictions, even though most tracks have plenty of room to safely accommodate increased spectators, Rea was critical of the limits.
“I’m speechless. I really don’t understand who’s making this up, ”the Kawasaki rider told BBC Northern Ireland.
“It’s almost weird because if you are called a test event, you can create your own rules.
“It’s really difficult for smaller events that don’t have the luxury to do so.
“Outdoor events like World Superbikes that I race at, we go to Donington Park, which has hundreds of acres for you to practice social distancing and the fans can be separated from the bubble in the paddock that is you can’t do in a stadium. yet we are now seeing crowded stadiums.
“It’s really strange, but we are what we are and we need to realize that we are still not out of the woodworks of the big picture of the COVID-19 era.
“Well, we have to be sensible, but only watch TV viewers in France / Portugal [Euro 2020] Gaming and social distancing seemed a thing of the past just watching this game.
“But it is what it is, we just have to deal with it, try to be safe, try to be clever.
“In the World Superbike paddock, we’re still very much in our own bubbles.
“The tests that are done before entering the paddock are insane, so at least you feel safe when you’re in the bladder and trying to do everything right.
“But motorsport needs fans, we have to go back to a kind of normality.”
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Fans, Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images