Thinking of title "ridiculous" says Jonathan Rea ahead of penultimate World Superbike round in Indonesia

The six-time champion trails Alvaro Bautista by 98 points with six races left and says it is “ridiculous” to entertain any thoughts of winning a seventh world crown this year ahead of the penultimate round.

He has won five times this season, with his last wins achieved at Estoril in Portugal in May – a drought of 21 races without a victory.

The 35-year-old’s longest spell without a win in World Superbikes lasted 33 races across the 2012-13 seasons when Rea rode for Ten Kate Honda.

He looked the most likely winner of the Superpole race at the previous round at San Juan in Argentina, but a mistake dropped Rea back to third behind reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu and Bautista.

Last year, Rea – who has won a staggering 117 World Superbike races since his debut in 2008 – claimed a double as the Mandalika street circuit hosted a round of the championship for the first time.

The Ulster rider will now hope to bring his winless streak to an end and halt the dominance of Bautista and Razgatlioglu, who have won all 21 races between them since Rea’s last triumph in Portugal.

“We’ll try to bring last year’s positive vibes here this year,” Rea said.

“We’ve improved since last year, the problem is everyone else has improved too.

“We need to see where we stack up tomorrow, with the track being resurfaced. Friday will be about understanding conditions, getting laps and cleaning the track, not making big set-up calls.

“I’m empty-headed about any goal this weekend – thinking about the championship is a bit ridiculous now; Alvaro has done an incredible job.

“I’ll focus on myself and I’m going out to do the best I can this weekend.”

Aruba.it Ducati rider Bautista has his first shot at winning the title in race one on Saturday (05:30 GMT), which will be the 900th World Superbike race since the championship was first run in 1988.

The Spanish rider, who is 82 points ahead of Pata Yamaha’s Razgatliolgu – with Rea 16 points further behind in third – can become champion if he outscores Razgatlioglu by 17 points. Rea will be mathematically out of the title race if he finishes behind Bautista.

A 125cc Grand Prix world champion in 2006, Bautista says he isn’t feeling nervous going into the penultimate race weekend of the season.

“Sincerely, I don’t feel nervous,” said the 37-year-old.

“I’m happy to come back here. I love the layout of the track and with the fans, they love the racing.

“It’ll be our first time with Ducati, so we have a lot of work to do, especially on Friday for the reference, set-up and gearing.

“I don’t have time to think about the championship or match-point.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s here or Australia, the important thing is that we get it.”

Free practice gets under way from 02:00 GMT on Friday with Superpole qualifying at 02:40 GMT on Saturday.

The first race on Saturday is scheduled for 05:30 GMT with Sunday’s Superpole race at 02:30 GMT and race two (05:30 GMT).