There start with Yamaha at the World Superbike Championship wasn’t positive for Jonathan Rea who struggled a lot during all the weekend, even ending up with a crash on sunday during the race 2, forcing the red flag to be raised and the rider not taking part on the restart. The rider even considered to be ‘in the middle of the shit’, at the australian circuit.
P17 on race 1, 10th on the Superpole race and a crash on race 2, being unfit to race at the restart, were more than enough reason for the weekend not going smoothly, with the british saying he did it all: ‘We’ve tried everything. At Yamaha, we’re an open catalogue. You can pick what you want but most riders are the same. Throughout testing, I’ve preferred some different chassis parts than ‘Loka’ but this weekend, we’ve started with what the team feel are the good for tyre consumption, grip and all the Phillip Island characters’.
As for his performance, Rea didn’t shy away from going deep on his feelings: ‘I’m as confused as everyone in the box; we’re lost and it’s frustrating. At Jerez, the bike worked fantastic; in race rhythm with all riders, I could compete for a podium. At Portimao, not so much and we were floating around the top five. Here, we’re in the middle of the shit’.