Zero progress for frustrated Rea

Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea had to settle for seventh and fifth places in today’s Misano World Superbike double header but feels like he has made no progress with the Fireblade all weekend.

The Isle of Man resident had to put in some ‘brave passes’ to salvage a decent amount of points from a tough weekend and says that different solutions need to be tried to find a way to get the bike’s electronics to function as he needs them.

“It’s been a disappointing weekend for me because it feels like we’ve made zero progress here. It was frustrating to be unable to pinpoint and fix the problems we’ve had and, while I don’t want to sound like a broken record, I feel a bit like one with my comments in the garage,” said Rea.

“We were able to salvage a top five in race two after some brave passing in the fast parts of the circuit but the group at the front was too far away. I can only ride the bike as well as it’s working, but I want to be able to race it again. We can’t just hope that the next round will be better; we need to evaluate what’s been going wrong and try to find some different solutions. 

“It’s been frustrating for the whole team because I know we haven’t been able to get the best out of the CBR this weekend. I know that on the right day and in the right environment, the bike is capable of much, much more. The whole team feels like we’re under-achieving right now so we need to do our homework and fix things as quickly as possible.”