World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea endures 'tough weekend' on return from injury
Jonathan Rea had a ‘tough weekend’ as he made his World Superbike return from injury at Aragon in Spain.
The Pata Prometeon Yamaha rider was ruled out of the previous round at Cremona in Italy after undergoing surgery for a laceration to his right thumb following a crash in the first race at Magny-Cours in France earlier this month.
Rea was 14th in Saturday’s opening race before finishing 12th in the Superpole race and 13th in the final outing of the weekend at the tenth round of the championship.
The six-time champion has dropped to 14th in the standings with two rounds to go, albeit only a point behind Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) in 13th.
Rea has struggled on the Yamaha R1 this season following his shock switch from Kawasaki.
His best result of the season is third in the Superpole race at Donington Park, with a maiden victory for Yamaha still looking a long way off for the 37-year-old, who has won a record 119 World Superbike races.
“Super difficult end to the weekend – I didn’t make bad starts but had bad track position from Turn 1 and then lost positions on the back straight in quick succession,” said Rea.
“In the Superpole race I had good pace at the end, I was going forward. But in the long race, I just had traffic and feel like with the Yamaha R1 you need clear track to really take advantage of all its strong points.
“Of course, when you’re in traffic you can’t do that and then I was vulnerable on the back straight.
“I got stuck behind Remy (Gardner) for a few laps. He passed me and I tried to pass him back, and then his pace wasn’t fast enough to go with the group.
“Finally, when I got past him, I was able to make some inroads to (Axel) Bassani and (Michael Ruben) Rinaldi but in the end, I just ran out of laps.
“Our pace wasn’t good enough, so it was a bit frustrating and a tough weekend overall.”
Spain’s Alvaro Bautista secured a Sunday double on the Aruba.it Ducati as he twice beat championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW).
Razgatlioglu was making his return to action after suffering a collapsed lung in a crash at Magny-Cours.
The Turkish rider finished as the runner-up in all three races at Aragon and opened his title lead after nearest rival Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati) – who had slashed the gap to 13 points going into the weekend – was ruled out of Saturday’s race with a technical problem.
Razgatlioglu is now 39 points clear with six races to go.
“The Superpole race was very fun,” he said.
“It was the first time I felt the bike was really good; the bike was turning and stopping, the feeling was much better. I fought with Bulega.
“I was very close to the win but two corners before, I lost it. Why am I very happy? We did an incredible job this weekend and I gave 100%, I was riding more than 100%.”
There is now a free weekend before the penultimate round at Estoril in Portugal from October 18-20.