Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea has shown no remorse at the opening 10 rounds of 2017 World Superbike. The ZX-10RR pilot finished on the podium at every race except for one – race one in Donington. There, Rea crashed out, but came back to win race two.
Heading into this weekend’s World Superbike round at France’s Magny-Cours, Rea has claimed 19 podiums, including:
- 11 Race Wins
- 7 Runner Up Finishes
- 1 Third-Place Finish
Rea enters round 11 of 13 with 431 points – 120 ahead of teammate Tom Sykes. If Rea can pull off his typical podium results at Magny-Cours, he will become the first rider in Superbike World Championship history to claim three consecutive titles.
Also, only two riders have a mathametical chance of claiming the 2017 World Superbike title: Sykes and Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Chaz Davies.
The 30-year-old Northern Irishman also has some positive results at Magny-Cours, including a double-win during his debut season with Kawasaki in 2015—both races won by over 2.8 seconds. Rea has also claimed two poles at Magny-Cours, the first in 2011 with Honda and the second in 2016 with Kawasaki.
“I’m excited for this weekend, especially after such a strong weekend in Portimao where we remained for a day of testing after the race. We found some positives that we can perhaps implement this weekend to give me some extra confidence on corner entry,” Jonathan Rea says.
“Magny Cours is a great circuit and one that I’ve been strong at in the past. The circuit itself requires a little compromise when setting up the bike and we will also have to keep in mind the weather, as at this time of the year anything can happen. This weekend is the first opportunity we have to try to win the 2017 WorldSBK championship. I want to put that out of my mind for now and go and do my best in both races. I’m confident with how the ZX-10RR is now, and that we can go and fight for race wins.”