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
Nationality	Northern Irish
Born	2 February 1987 Larne, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Current team	Kawasaki Racing Team
Bike number	1
Website	jonathan-rea.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2012 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2012 championship position 21st (17 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 2 0 0 0 0 17 Superbike World Championship Active years 2008– Manufacturers Honda, Kawasaki Championships 6 (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) 2020 championship position 1st (360 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 304 99 185 27 78 4749.5 Supersport World Championship Active years 2008 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2008 championship position 2nd (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.

External links