Jonathan Rea

Jonathan Rea, MBE (born 2 February 1987) is a Northern Irish professional motorcycle racer, competing in the Superbike World Championship with team-mate Alex Lowes.[1]

Jonathan Rea
MBE
Rea at Donington Park in 2016
NationalityNorthern Irish
Born (1987-02-02) 2 February 1987
Larne, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Current teamKawasaki Racing Team
Bike number1
Websitejonathan-rea.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics
MotoGP World Championship
Active years2012
ManufacturersHonda
Championships0
2012 championship position21st (17 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
2 0 0 0 0 17
Superbike World Championship
Active years2008
ManufacturersHonda, Kawasaki
Championships6 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
2020 championship position1st (360 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
304 99 185 27 78 4749.5
Supersport World Championship
Active years2008
ManufacturersHonda
Championships0
2008 championship position2nd (164 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
12 3 6 0 0 164

He was world superbike champion in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, making him the most successful World SBK rider in the championship history. He also holds the highest number of race wins in the superbike championship.

Previously he was runner-up in the Supersport World Championship for the Ten Kate Honda team in 2008, and runner-up in the British Superbike Championship in 2007 for the HM Plant Honda team. He was named Irish Motorcyclist of the Year in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2016.[2][3] Rea made two MotoGP starts in 2012, scoring points on both occasions, but has not been a regular rider in the championship.

He was nominated for the 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, finishing in second place.

Career

Early career

For much of his career he has been backed by Red Bull. Rea was British 60cc motocross runner up in 1997, before moving up through the motocross classes. He was not originally keen to switch to circuit racing as he considered it to be boring, but he was persuaded to by friends Michael and Eugene Laverty, contesting the 2003 British 125cc Championship. His 2004 season was interrupted by a crash at Knockhill.

In 2005 Red Bull set up a British Superbike ride for him on a factory-spec Honda Fireblade. He showed his potential by snatching a pole position from the established names, and finished 16th in the series despite missing two races, at Snetterton after a heavy testing crash, and at Oulton Park after the death of a junior teammate in the previous event.

British Superbike Championship

He started the 2006 season strongly, lying sixth in the British Superbike Championship after five meetings. At Oulton Park he finished 3rd in race two, before being demoted to fourth as he was deemed to have gained a place from Shane Byrne on the last lap illegally, although he claimed that he crossed the infield grass as he was squeezed out of road. He qualified fifth at Mondello Park before heavy rain forced the cancellation of the races, and claimed that he had been on race tyres, rather than special soft qualifying compounds. He impressed at Mallory Park too, qualifying on the front row and running second until high-siding in race one, despite having no race engineer for the weekend. At Knockhill he took pole position, and followed a fourth in race one with his first career podium in race two, passing Leon Haslam for second with two laps to go. He ultimately took fourth in the championship, ahead of the factory Honda of Karl Harris.

He took Harris' factory ride for 2007, alongside reigning champion Ryuichi Kiyonari of Japan. After four-second places, he finally took his first win in the second race at Mondello Park,[4] after dominating wet practice but struggling in the dry first race. A double victory at Knockhill followed,[5] taking him to within nine points of Kiyonari at the top of the standings – retaining this position after Oulton Park in which each HM Plant Honda rider won once and crashed once. He ultimately finished as the series runner-up, 26 points behind Kiyonari and 20 ahead of Leon Haslam.

Also in 2007, he raced with Kiyonari and won a three-hour endurance race, and the pair was then entered for the Suzuka 8-Hour race on a factory Honda machine. Plans for him to contest the British MotoGP round on a Team Roberts bike were scrapped in favour of extra Suzuka preparation.[6] He attended the 2007 World Superbike round at Brands Hatch, as he began to explore international options.[7]

Supersport World Championship

In September 2007 he signed a three-year progressive deal with Ten Kate Honda to ride in the Supersport World Championship for the 2008 season, and the Superbike World Championship for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.[8] He turned down the option of staying in British Superbikes with either HM Plant Honda or move to Rizla Suzuki, and turned down a World Superbike ride with the factory Xerox Ducati team. In his first race at Losail in Qatar, he crashed, badly injuring a finger.[9] At Assen he challenged for a first WSS win, losing by 0.014 seconds to teammate Andrew Pitt.[10] He did win for Ten Kate at the Donington Park British Supersport race, which the team entered as practice for the later WSS race there. His first World Supersport win came at Brno, and he immediately followed this with a second win at Brands Hatch, although the race was stopped early after the fatal accident of Craig Jones with seven laps remaining in the race.[11] A third win followed at Vallelunga, pushing him back up to second in the standings behind Pitt. His chances of winning the title were ended by a wild move from Robbin Harms in the penultimate round at Magny-Cours. He did remount to finish tenth in the race.[12]

Superbike World Championship

Jonathan Rea at Test MotoGP Aragón 2012

For 2009, Rea rode for the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team in World Superbikes.[13] He made the switch before the end of 2008, meaning that he made his WSBK debut in the final 2008 round at Portimão. His first podium came in the second race at round six at Kyalami.[14] Another third place followed in the very next round at Miller Motorsport Park,[15] before his first WSBK win came at Misano, after a frantic battle with the Ducati duo of Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio.[16] This followed a chaotic first race that day; his bike failed on the dummy grid, he received a ride-through penalty for being given a lift back to the pits by Kiyonari on the warm-up lap, and when he switched to a wet set-up bike he – like teammate Carlos Checa – had trouble getting the second bike fired up.[17]

Rea's championship-winning ZX-10R on display in Tokyo
Rea at Assen in 2016

He added a further win in Germany to finish fifth overall and second best rookie behind top rookie, Ben Spies, who won the World Superbike championship that year. He remained with Ten Kate for 2010, and scored a double victory at the team's home round at Assen,[18] however this was followed by two crashes at Monza.[19] A further crash in Superpole at Miller Motorsport Park injured his neck and shoulder, though he still raced the next day, scoring a 14th and an eighth.[20] He scored only seven points at Misano, as he fell behind Carlos Checa in the battle for third place in the championship standings.[21]

For the 2011 season, Rea stayed with the Ten Kate Racing family as its Honda-supported World Superbike team received backing from global lubricants manufacturer, Castrol, reviving the famous Castrol Honda name that saw World Superbike championship victories with John Kocinski in 1997 and Colin Edwards in 2000 and 2002.

After spending his entire career riding Honda machinery, Rea joined Kawasaki Racing Team as Tom Sykes' new teammate for the 2015 season. Rea dominated the season and won his maiden World Superbike title, with 14 wins.[22]

For the 2016 season, Rea remains with Kawasaki.

Rea retained the title in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 becoming the first man ever to win six successive superbike world championships. On 9 June 2018, Rea won the first race at Brno to take his 60th career win and surpass the record of Carl Fogarty.[23]

MotoGP World Championship

Rea made his MotoGP debut in 2012, replacing the injured Casey Stoner for the Repsol Honda team. He finished 8th in the San Marino race, held at Misano in Italy, and 7th at Motorland Aragon in Spain, before returning to World Superbike duties.

Personal life

Rea's family background lies in motorcycle road racing. His father, Johnny, competed at the Isle of Man TT and took his sole victory during the 1989 Junior TT race.[24] His grandfather, John, sponsored Joey Dunlop.

Rea married Tatia, an Australian known as 'Tarsh' (whom he met when she worked promoting UK-based superbike team Honda Racing) at a 2012 ceremony in the Lake District.[25][26][27]

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to motorcycle racing.[28][29] Queen's University Belfast conferred an honorary doctorate on Rea during December 2019.[30]

Career statistics

All-time statistics

Series Years Races Poles Podiums Wins 2nd place 3rd place Fastest Laps Titles Points
British Superbike Championship 2005–2007 72 7 20 5 11 4 5 0 719
Supersport World Championship 2008 12 0 6 3 1 2 0 0 164
Superbike World Championship 2008– 304 27 185 99 61 25 78 6 4749.5
MotoGP World Championship 2012 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 17
Total 390 34 211 107 73 31 83 6 5649.5

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos Pts
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2
2005 Honda BHI
13
BHI
18
THR
16
THR
12
MAL
14
MAL
14
OUL
12
OUL
9
MOP
Ret
MOP
Ret
CRO
7
CRO
Ret
KNO
Ret
KNO
9
SNE SNE SIL
12
SIL
11
CAD
Ret
CAD
Ret
OUL OUL DON
Ret
DON
11
BHGP
10
BHGP
10
16th 64
2006 Honda BHI
5
BHI
Ret
DON
8
DON
5
THR
4
THR
5
OUL
8
OUL
4
MOP
C
MOP
C
MAL
Ret
MAL
8
SNE
4
SNE
20
KNO
4
KNO
2
OUL
5
OUL
4
CRO
2
CRO
13
CAD
Ret
CAD
3
SIL
4
SIL
5
BHGP
18
BHGP
3
4th 248
2007 Honda BHGP
3
BHGP
2
THR
Ret
THR
4
SIL
2
SIL
3
OUL
4
OUL
5
SNE
2
SNE
2
MOP
4
MOP
1
KNO
1
KNO
1
OUL
Ret
OUL
1
MAL
2
MAL
Ret
CRO
2
CRO
2
CAD
Ret
CAD
1
DON
5
DON
7
BHI
2
BHI
2
2nd 407

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos Pts
2008 Honda QAT
Ret
AUS
5
ESP
6
NED
2
ITA
Ret
GER
6
SMR
3
CZE
1
GBR
1
EUR
3
ITA
1
FRA
10
POR 2nd 164

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Pts
R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2
2008 Honda QAT QAT AUS AUS SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA USA USA GER GER SMR SMR CZE CZE GBR GBR EUR EUR ITA ITA FRA FRA POR
4
POR
15
26th 14
2009 AUS
5
AUS
9
QAT
12
QAT
8
SPA
Ret
SPA
13
NED
7
NED
5
ITA
5
ITA
4
RSA
4
RSA
3
USA
5
USA
3
SMR
7
SMR
1
GBR
7
GBR
15
CZE
3
CZE
4
GER
4
GER
1
ITA
7
ITA
6
FRA
Ret
FRA
3
POR
2
POR
3
5th 315
2010 AUS
4
AUS
6
POR
3
POR
Ret
SPA
6
SPA
5
NED
1
NED
1
ITA
Ret
ITA
Ret
RSA
5
RSA
2
USA
14
USA
8
SMR
13
SMR
12
CZE
1
CZE
2
GBR
2
GBR
2
GER
1
GER
2
ITA
DNS
ITA
DNS
FRA
12
FRA
DNS
4th 292
2011 AUS
12
AUS
4
EUR
5
EUR
6
NED
1
NED
3
ITA
6
ITA
Ret
USA
Ret
USA
11
SMR
DNS
SMR
DNS
SPA SPA CZE CZE GBR GBR GER
10
GER
4
ITA
1
ITA
Ret
FRA
Ret
FRA
Ret
POR
3
POR
3
9th 170
2012 AUS
7
AUS
4
ITA
9
ITA
5
NED
Ret
NED
1
ITA
C
ITA
6
EUR
4
EUR
1
USA
4
USA
2
SMR
5
SMR
2
SPA
16
SPA
5
CZE
Ret
CZE
12
GBR
4
GBR
9
RUS
Ret
RUS
7
GER
Ret
GER
4
POR
6
POR
2
FRA
13
FRA
2
5th 278.5
2013 AUS
8
AUS
8
SPA
4
SPA
15
NED
2
NED
4
ITA
8
ITA
Ret
GBR
4
GBR
11
POR
Ret
POR
3
ITA
Ret
ITA
2
RUS
4
RUS
C
GBR
1
GBR
4
GER
Ret
GER
DNS
TUR TUR USA USA FRA FRA SPA SPA 9th 176
2014 AUS
6
AUS
5
SPA
3
SPA
5
NED
3
NED
1
ITA
1
ITA
1
GBR
6
GBR
6
MAL
6
MAL
6
SMR
7
SMR
5
POR
5
POR
1
USA
6
USA
3
SPA
4
SPA
5
FRA
3
FRA
Ret
QAT
4
QAT
2
3rd 334
2015 Kawasaki AUS
1
AUS
2
THA
1
THA
1
SPA
1
SPA
2
NED
1
NED
1
ITA
1
ITA
1
GBR
2
GBR
2
POR
1
POR
1
SMR
2
SMR
1
USA
3
USA
3
MAL
1
MAL
2
SPA
4
SPA
4
FRA
1
FRA
1
QAT
2
QAT
Ret
1st 548
2016 AUS
1
AUS
1
THA
1
THA
2
SPA
2
SPA
3
NED
1
NED
1
ITA
2
ITA
2
MAL
2
MAL
3
GBR
3
GBR
2
ITA
1
ITA
1
USA
1
USA
Ret
GER
Ret
GER
1
FRA
4
FRA
2
SPA
3
SPA
2
QAT
2
QAT
3
1st 498
2017 AUS
1
AUS
1
THA
1
THA
1
ARA
1
ARA
2
NED
1
NED
1
ITA
2
ITA
2
GBR
Ret
GBR
1
ITA
3
ITA
2
USA
2
USA
1
GER
2
GER
2
POR
1
POR
1
FRA
1
FRA
Ret
SPA
1
SPA
1
QAT
1
QAT
1
1st 556
2018 AUS
5
AUS
2
THA
1
THA
4
ARA
1
ARA
2
NED
1
NED
2
ITA
1
ITA
1
GBR
2
GBR
3
CZE
1
CZE
Ret
USA
1
USA
1
ITA
1
ITA
1
POR
1
POR
1
FRA
1
FRA
1
ARG
1
ARG
1
QAT
1
QAT
C
1st 545
Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pos Pts
R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2 R1 SR R2
2019 Kawasaki AUS
2
AUS
2
AUS
2
THA
2
THA
2
THA
2
SPA
2
SPA
2
SPA
2
NED
2
NED
C
NED
3
ITA
1
ITA
1
ITA
C
SPA
4
SPA
4
SPA
2
ITA
1
ITA
5
ITA
1
GBR
1
GBR
1
GBR
1
USA
1
USA
1
USA
2
POR
1
POR
1
POR
2
FRA
2
FRA
2
FRA
1
ARG
2
ARG
1
ARG
1
QAT
1
QAT
1
QAT
1
1st 663
2020 Kawasaki AUS
Ret
AUS
1
AUS
2
SPA
2
SPA
1
SPA
6
POR
1
POR
1
POR
1
SPA
3
SPA
1
SPA
1
SPA
2
SPA
2
SPA
1
SPA
1
SPA
2
SPA
4
FRA
1
FRA
1
FRA
4
POR
4
POR
5
POR
14
1st 360

By season

Season Class Motorcycle Team Race Win Podium Pole FLap Pts Plcd
2012 MotoGP Honda Repsol Honda Team 2 0 0 0 0 17 21st
Total 2 0 0 0 0 17

By class

Class Seasons 1st GP 1st Pod 1st Win Race Win Podiums Pole FLap Pts WChmp
MotoGP 2012 2012 San Marino 2 0 0 0 0 17 0
Total 2012 2 0 0 0 0 17 0

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts
2012 MotoGP Honda QAT SPA POR FRA CAT GBR NED GER ITA USA IND CZE RSM
8
ARA
7
JPN MAL AUS VAL 21st 17

Suzuka 8 Hours results

Year Team Co-Riders Bike Pos
2012 F.C.C. TSR Kousuke Akiyoshi
Tadayuki Okada
Honda CBR1000RRW 1st
2018 Team Green Kawasaki Kazuma Watanabe
Leon Haslam
Kawasaki ZX-10RR 3rd
2019 Kawasaki Racing Team Suzuka 8H Leon Haslam
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1st

References

  1. Lowes named as Haslam replacement at Kawasaki crash.net, 11 October 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019
  2. Ryder, Joy (20 January 2009). "Jonathan Rea wins Irish Motorcyclist of the Year award". World Superbike News. Buzzin' Fly Limited. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  3. BBC, Northern Ireland (30 January 2016). "Jonathan Rea named Irish Motorcyclist of the Year". Jonathan Rea named Irish Motorcyclist of the Year. BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  4. Moakes, Dan (17 June 2007). "Jonathan Rea's first SBK win at Mondello Park". F1 Network.net. Durham Associates Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  5. Moakes, Dan (12 July 2007). "Jonathan Rea takes Superbike double at Knockhill". F1 Network.net. Durham Associates Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  6. "Rea out – Kurtis replaces Kenny". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 18 June 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  7. "Q&A: Jonathan Rea – EXCLUSIVE". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 3 August 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  8. "Rea to ride in World Supersport". BBC Sport. BBC. 4 September 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  9. Carnell, Sarah (23 February 2008). "Jonathan Rea may require surgery following crash". Motorcycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  10. "Rea pipped for victory in Assen". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 April 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  11. "Huge Jones accident stops race". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 3 August 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  12. Marsen, Liam (5 October 2008). "Andrew Pitt takes win and championship". Motorcycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  13. Guy, Michael (24 September 2008). "Rea signs WSB Ten Kate deal". Motorcycle News. Bauer Media Group. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  14. "Debut podium delight for Jonathan Rea". London Bikers. Media Panther Ltd. 17 May 2009. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  15. "Rea and Laverty take podium spots". BBC Sport. BBC. 31 May 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  16. "Rea clinches first Superbike win". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 June 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
  17. "Rea basks in maiden WSBK glory". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 21 June 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  18. "Rea secures breathtaking Assen double". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 25 April 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  19. "Rea 'excited, not down in the dumps'". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  20. "Rea close to full fitness for Misano". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  21. "Rea eager to avoid Misano repeat at Brno". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2010.
  22. "World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea secures championship". BBC Sport. BBC Sport. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  23. "World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea breaks Carl Fogarty record with 60th victory". BBC Sport. BBC Sport. 9 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  24. "Race Results - Isle of Man TT Official Website". Isle of Man TT Official Website. 5 March 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  25. Rea's wife on how she keeps bike champ's feet on the ground Belfast Telegraph, 16 December 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2019
  26. Jonathan Rea, an Irishman in Australia, racing on ‘home ground’ for love Gazetta.it, 15 February 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2019
  27. Proud Rea hails ‘incredible’ day as world champion receives MBE Belfast Newsletter, 21 November 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2019
  28. "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B21.
  29. "Queen's Honours: Awards for Rory Best, Jonathan Rea and Steven Davis". BBC Sport (Northern Ireland). 16 June 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  30. "Jonathan Rea: Motorcycling champion receives honorary doctorate from QUB". BBC Sport (Northern Ireland). 10 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
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