Maybe even Jonathan Rea was not expecting to leave Misano with just 16 points from Alvaro Bautista especially after the crash he suffered in Superpole Race in which reigning World Champion ended 5^th. Anyway, motorsport gives surprises every day and championship leader crashed out in Race 2 like in Jerez giving Jonathan a great chance to recover and reduce the gap.

Surely it was a great way to repay the guys in the box: “Winning two races is good. Unfortunately I lost the front at turn 10 in Superpole Race. I tried my best to save the crash but I could not, I kept the clutch and I was able to rejoin the track quickly. Crash was totally my mistake, I was riding on the limit but I went too far, it was a stupid mistake. It is never nice throwing a race by my own but winning in the afternoon was a good way to repay the crew”.

Race 2 winner then analyzed the day, saying that hot temperature affected the race: “Today has been really tough because of the temperature, it was so hot and I was unsure of the pace. I saw 36 high and 37 low, I felt we were going slow but I did not want to go any faster as long as I saw Alvaro going down really earlier. Temperature were tough for front tyre”.

Is now the championship open and has Jonathan any chance to defend his title? “Championship is long like I said yesterday. Competing with this package right now is super difficult, we try to get the maximum every weekend. Today was a great result for Kawasaki with three riders on the podium, the Suzuka team! We do not have acceleration like the rivals, we have to find the time in the middle of the corner”.

Then Jonathan kept talking about the Championship: “Alvaro is not invincible. Mentality is everything, you never know what it is gonna happen, you do not have to let dark moments kill you, in 2016 I lost a lot of points and Chaz Davies dominated the championship from Laguna Seca race but I still managed to win that title”.

In the final laps it was a great fight against Razgatlioglu: “Toprak has an official bike, many riders deserve a factory one but it is not easy. I knew it was there and I thought it could give to me some respect because we are running for the same team and also in Suzuka we will be teammates but when he tried the move at turn 8 I realized it was not (laughing)”.

This is what happened in Race 2: 

https://www.motorlat.com/notas/wsbk/11689/riminiworldsbk-jonathan-rea-holds-off-razgatlioglu-as-bautista-crashes-again