Jonathan Rea vows to 'regroup and reset' after Yamaha World Superbike debut ends with Race 2 crash at Phillip Island

The Pata Prometeon Yamaha rider fell at Turn 11 on the third lap after capitalising on engine trouble for BMW’s Toprak Razgatlioglu, with Rea climbing as high as fourth prior to his accident.

He was carried away on a stretcher after the crash but Rea was released from the circuit Medical Centre shortly afterwards having escaped with ‘multiple contusions and abrasions’.

The race was red-flagged as a result of the incident before being restarted over 11 laps, when Rea was declared unfit to compete.

The 37-year-old is now looking to regroup ahead of round two at Catalunya in Barcelona from March 22-24 after failing to score any points in his debut race weekend with Yamaha, with Rea battling persistent rear chatter issues.

He finished 17th in Saturday’s opening race and was 10th in the Superpole sprint race on Sunday, with Rea plagued throughout the weekend by persistent rear chatter issues on the YZF-R1.

Reflecting on the crash, Rea told Yamaha: “First and foremost, physically I’m okay apart from I hit my hip quite hard in the crash but no further injuries from Tuesday [crash during testing].

“I had two big crashes this week, but I’m in one piece.

“Really frustrated because the crash came as a big surprise. It was as I was building my confidence on the bike and feeling quite good.

“I took some profit when Toprak’s [Razgatlioglu] engine had troubles and I found myself in a good place in the race. As soon as I started to feel confident, I crashed.

“I just have to rebuild from zero, look into the crash, and try to improve the feeling for me,” added Rea.

“You can see from how competitive ‘Loka’ [Andrea Locatelli] is that we can get there. I want to go home now, regroup, and reset and come back stronger in Barcelona.”