Jonathan Rea , MBE (born February 2, 1987) is a Northern Ireland professional motor racing driver, currently competing in the Superbike World Championship where he was crowned in 2015, 2016 and again in 2017. Previously he was a runner-up at the Supersport World Championships for Ten Kate Honda's team in 2008, and runner-up at the British Superbike Championship in 2007 for Honda's HM Plant team. He was crowned Irish Motorcycle Rider in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2016. Rea has made two MotoGP starts in 2012, scoring points on both occasions but not yet a regular rider in the championship.
Rea was nominated for the BBC's 2017 Sports Personality Award of the Year and came in 2nd place.
Video Jonathan Rea
Initial years
For much of his career he has been supported by Red Bull. Rea was a British 60cc motorcross racer in 1997, before rising motocross classes. He was initially not interested in switching to the racing circuit because he considered it boring, but he was persuaded by friends of Michael and Eugene Laverty, following the British 125cc Championship of 2003. His 2004 season was plagued by an accident at Knockhill.
In 2005, Red Bull set up a British Superbike rides for him at the Honda Fireblade factory. He demonstrated his potential by grabbing pole positions from established names, and finished 16th in the series despite losing two races, in Snetterton after a heavy test accident, and at Oulton Park following the death of a teammate at a previous event.
Maps Jonathan Rea
English Superbike Championship
He started the 2006 season strongly, lying sixth in the British Superbike Championship after five meetings. At Oulton Park, he finished third in the second race, before being demoted to fourth because he was deemed to have a spot from Shane Byrne in his last lap illegally, although he claimed he crossed the infield grass as he tumbled out of the way. He qualified fifth at Mondello Park before a heavy rain forced the cancellation of the race, and claimed that he had been on a racing tire, rather than a soft special qualifying compound. He was impressed at Mallory Park too, escaped in the front row and ran second to high sides in the first race, despite not having a rider for the weekend. At Knockhill he took the lead position, and following the fourth in the first race with his first podium in the second race, passing Leon Haslam for second with two laps remaining. He finally took the fourth in the championship, in front of Honda's Honda Karl Harris.
He took a Harris factory ride for 2007, along with defending champion Ryuichi Kiyonari from Japan. After four seconds, he finally won his first win in the second race at Mondello Park, having dominated the wet practice but struggled in the first dry race. The double win at Knockhill followed, taking it into nine points from Kiyonari at the top of the standings - retaining this position after Oulton Park where every Honda HM Plant driver won once and fell once. He finally finished as runner-up series, 26 points behind Kiyonari and 20 ahead of Leon Haslam.
Also in 2007, he ran with Kiyonari and won the three-hour endurance race, and the pair then went in for the Suzuka 8-Jam race at Honda factory engine. Plans for him to follow the British MotoGP round with Team Roberts bikes canceled for additional Suzuka preparation. He attended the 2007 World Superbike round at Brands Hatch, as he began exploring international options.
World Supersport
In September 2007 he signed a three-year progressive contract with Ten Kate Honda to ride in the Supersport World Championships for the 2008 season, and the Superbike World Championships for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He rejected the option to stay in British Superbikes with HM Plant Honda or move to Rizla Suzuki, and denied the World Superbike trip with the factory team of Xerox Ducati. In his first race at Losail in Qatar, he fell, injuring his finger. At Assen he was challenged for the first WSS victory, losing by 0.014 seconds to team-mate Andrew Pitt. He won for Ten Kate in the British Supersport race Donington Park, which the team entered as an exercise for the WSS race later there. His first Supersport World victory came in Brno, and he soon followed this with a second win at Brands Hatch, although the race was stopped early after a fatal crash from Craig Jones with seven laps remaining in the race. The third win followed in Vallelunga, pushing him back into second place 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.
World Superbike
For 2009, Rea rode for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda's team in World Superbikes. He made the transition before the end of 2008, meaning that he made his WSBK debut in the 2008 final round at PortimÃÆ'Â oo. His first podium came in the second race in the sixth round at Kyalami. The other third place followed in the next round at Miller Motorsport Park, before his first WSBK victory came at Misano, after a fierce battle with Ducati duo Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio. It follows the first chaotic race of the day; His bike failed on the doll grid, he received a pass-by penalty for being given a ride back to the pit by Kiyonari on a warm-up lap, and when he switched to his wet set-up bike - like teammate Carlos Checa - had trouble getting his second bike on.
He added a further victory in Germany to finish the fifth best overall rookie and second behind the top rookie, Ben Spies, who won the World Superbike championship that year. He remained with Ten Kate for 2010, and scored a double win in the team's home round at Assen, but this was followed by two accidents at Monza. A further accident at Superpole at Miller Motorsport Park injured his neck and shoulders, although he still raced the next day, scoring his 14th and eighth goals. He scored just seven points at Misano, as he fell behind Carlos Checa in the battle for third place in the championship standings.
For the 2011 season, Rea remains with the Ten Kate Racing family as the World Superbike team backed by Honda receives support from global lubricants manufacturer Castrol revives the famous Castrol Honda name who witnessed World Superbike championship wins with John Kocinski in 1997 and Colin Edwards in the year 2000 and 2002.
Having spent his entire career riding a Honda machine, Rea joined the Kawasaki Racing Team as the new team of Tom Sykes for the 2015 season. Rea dominated the season and won his inaugural World Superbike title, with 14 wins.
For the 2016 season, Rea stays with Kawasaki.
Rea retained the title in both 2016 and 2017, becoming the first person to ever win three consecutive Superbike world championships. On June 9, 2018, Rea won the first race in Brno to clinch his 60th career victory and surpass Carl Fogarty's record.
MotoGP
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 7 at Motorland Aragon in Spain, before returning to World Superbike duty.
Career statistics
- All time
English Superbike Championship
Racing by year
Supersport World Championships
Racing by year
Superbike World Championships
(key) (Races in bold indicates pole position, race in italics shows fastest lap)
Racing by year
* The season is still going on.
Motorcycle racing Grand Prix
By season
Based on class
Racing by year
(key)
Suzuka 8 Hours
Personal life
Rea's family background lies in motorcycle racing. His father, Johnny, competed on the Isle of Man TT and won his sole victory during the 1989 TT Junior race. His grandfather, John, sponsored Joey Dunlop.
Rea was appointed Member of the Royal Order of the United Kingdom (MBE) in the 2017 Anniversary Award for motorcycle racing services.
References
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia