In 2019, the last time the SBKs drove at Donington, Jonathan Rea managed a hat trick. After Superpole he set out to reinforce that streak but found a virtually perfect Toprak Razgatlıoğlu in the way. Thus, in the Hollywood, a very fast part of the track, the world champion played an important wild card to try to follow him. Perhaps his past as a cross rider helped him on the long excursion on wet grass, but once he was back on track there was nothing he could do about the long-dead Turkish rider.
“I struggled a bit to stay in front of him,” Johnny admitted. “I lacked grip compared to yesterday when I was competitive, maybe because the rain made the tarmac less sticky, so I struggled to brake the bike, lean. I used a provisional setup but didn’t make too drastic changes because we didn’t know what to expect with fifteen minutes to go.”
They found a track that was still wet in many places.
“I got off to a good start, then Toprak passed me and on the next lap I ended up on the outside of the Hollywood and completely lost my rear end, risking a crash but I didn’t want to give up.” The Kawasaki rider continued. “I’ve made too many mistakes. I’m disappointed because I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike. For the first time this year I’ve had to struggle to do things that normally come naturally to me. It’s weird because everything was fine this morning, so you should check it out tonight.”
However, Rea spared no effort and often risked a fall.
“The first corner was the worst point for me, and then the Hollywood. You just had a dry line and you had to stay on it. As the rounds progress you understand where you need to go, but at first you try to push and in some places you are over the limit. I have to thank my electronics engineer Andrea (ed. Gentile) for saving my ass so many times today. I’m happy to be in parc fermé after everything that happened,” he stated.
But now Razgatlıoğlu is closer in the table: only 15 points separate him from Jonathan.
“Here he is fast. We’ve known that for years. I expected him to be quick, as was Lowes. After my mistake, my race is over. Toprak had too big an advantage and good pace. I will try again tomorrow‘ he concluded, metaphorically throwing down the glove.