World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea reflects on 'really disappointing weekend' at Misano as Yamaha travails continue

The Pata Prometeon Yamaha rider was fortunate to escape with bruising to his left hand and wrist after a massive crash on the opening lap of Saturday’s race at the Marco Simoncelli Circuit.

Rea was passed fit to race on Sunday and sealed eighth in the Superpole race before completing a challenging weekend in 10th place in the final race.

Turkey’s Toprak Razgatlioglu sealed a brilliant treble on the factory BMW M1000RR and now leads the championship by 21 points from Aruba.it Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega after four rounds, with reigning champion Alvaro Bautista three points further back in third.

Rea – 14th in the championship – is still struggling to maximise the full potential of the Yamaha R1 after making the switch to the factory team following eight seasons at Kawasaki.

However, fellow Yamaha riders including his team-mate Andrea Locatelli and Australian Remy Gardner on the independent GRT machine are demonstrating the competitiveness of the R1 and Rea accepts that his current results are ‘frustrating’.

“Obviously a really disappointing weekend but I also have to feel very fortunate that I got away with that crash yesterday, because it was a huge one and aside from having a pretty sore left wrist and hand, physically on the bike I was not so bad,” said Rea, who qualified 15th.

“I made two good starts today in both races, apart from where I got tangled up with Remy [Gardner] out-braking himself at Turn 8 on the first lap of Race 2 and I lost a lot of track position. But I just struggled to really get down to business when the tyre was fresh.

“The race came to me a little bit better at the end when the tyre was moving, but I couldn’t get the best out of the bike at the beginning and didn’t have the confidence.

“The current performance level is frustrating, but it’s clear that the R1 can be more competitive so we need to find a way to translate my feeling to adapt and make changes that help me to get the best out of this package.”

After winning Saturday’s opening race from Bulega and Bautista, pole man Razgatlioglu wrapped up a double in the Superpole race, taking the win by 1.6s from Bulega, with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) on the podium in third.

Locatelli – fourth in race one – finished in the same position on the Pata Yamaha.

Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) slid off and rejoined the race to finish outside the points in 17th.

Razgatlioglu again proved unstoppable in race two, with the former champion bringing up a hat-trick as he won by 2.9s from Bulega after 21 laps, with Bautista fighting back from his Superpole race mishap to secure third, 3.9s further back.

Lowes was fourth ahead of Locatelli and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Ducati).

High-flying Razgatlioglu, who left the Pata Yamaha team to spearhead BMW’s official effort, has now claimed six victories this season as he bids for a second world crown.

“I’m really happy because when I came to Misano, I had just one target: three wins with BMW – I did it,” said Razgatlioglu, whose crew chief is Randalstown man Phil Marron.

“We did a great job today. After Race 1, we changed something on the bike.

“I was feeling much better, especially with front tyre grip. I was pushing the front more.

“After five or eight laps, everyone started to drop; I could continue. I know after five or six laps I’d be very strong.

“I’m just riding calmly and trying not to make mistakes.

“We go step by step this season. I hope we finish as world champions, but there’s many races and it’s better not to talk like this.”

Donington Park in England hosts the fifth round from July 12-14.