I have to admit ...

[WorldSBK]

... I have been a long time fan of Chaz Davies, Tom Sykes, Michael van der Mark, Alex Lowes just to name four.

For the past few years, I've been rooting for these four ... and basically any rider like Bautista who could beat Jonathan Rea. To be honest, I have not been a fan of Rea, not because of the man, but because he has been dominating the championship for years, and I wish for more fights.

I like Chaz Davies because he was able to give Johnny a hard time two years ago. I like him because he usually starts at 7th-10th position on the grid and then fights back to come to the front and sometimes wins the races, sometimes is 2nd or 3rd. Thus, Davies puts up pretty good shows.

Tom Sykes was one of my big hope to beat Rea as he had the same bike (arguably) and a lot of experience. But he could never come close to the consistency of Rea.

The Yamaha folks could have some nice race but was never a threat to Rea.

Last year, Bautista gave me hope. But we know how it finished.

This year, Redding has been giving Johnny a hard time and again gives me hope. But we can he how things can quickly go south even for the favorite one, and former MotoGP racer.

This weekend Rinaldi also brought the fight to Rea, but the latter quickly showed him that he still have a lot to learn.

So, overall, this season and the previous one have had good fights at most races.

Now, seeing what I've seen so far, I have to admit that Rea forced my admiration and I may become one of his fans for the following reasons:

- He has shown for many seasons that he has had good strategies to win the championships. If he doesn't win then he would score 20 points.

- He makes very few mistakes. Almost no crash.

- He manages with a bike that is not as fast as the Ducati.

- He is good at almost anything (I explain below)


Davies is good at putting up the fights to come to the front during races, but lacks in qualification, consistency and crashes a lot more than Rea.

Sykes has been a disappointment, as I wish he fought at the front.

Bautista and Redding have been the paddock sensations in the last two years, but Rea shows that he can, at the mid season, take the gloves off and finish off his opponents.

Rea has shown that it takes A LOT more to win the championship than just winning some races.

To me, he has shown me that he deserves to win and he has forced my admiration. As long as he's around, I think he will continue to set the bar very very high for World Superbike. I am glad that other teams are catching up in the last two years, but Rea still shows that he is the master.

I have never raced so I don't know all the details about what it would take to win. But as a spectator, the above summarizes what goes in my mind after watching races in the last few years.

I would be very interested in knowing what you folks think as you know much better about racing than I do. I'd like to know if my assessment of the situation is close to reality, or whether I have been completely naive.

 

[budman]

I have great respect for Rea. I color myself as a fan because of his never give up riding style. He has won a lot of races when he was not the fastest dude.

This weekend race 2 was a good example of him pushing to the win... almost refusing to take 2nd. Racer grit... he has it.

For a while it was the bike that helped him dominate. Now.. not so much.

Good to see the Honda's making progress. Hoping to see the BMW team get going. I like Sykes and I am sure it killed him when Rea took over as top man in Green.

 

[scootergmc]

As cliche as it sounds, Rea has racecraft...

 

[Maddevill]

When Sykes was on the Kawasaki, Rea would comment that ,while Sykes is very fast, he had no tire management ability. Really said Tom would charge into the corner, park it, then just grab a big handful of throttle and spin the rear tire like crazy. That's why he got a lot of Pole positions but very often faded in the races.

Mad

 

[Raider]

The one thing I’ve noticed about Rea, and this is the same trait that Lorenzo had on the Yamaha, is that he does not get the thing out of shape. Every turn looks effortless, smooth, like he’s barely hanging off the bike or forcing it.

Compare that to the Ducati’s where the rear is kicking out, or the Yamahas where it looks like it’s shaking a bit, and I haven’t seen enough of the Honda except in Alvaro’s hands...

Rea just makes riding look effortless, even in the heat of battle.

 

[berth]

The dominance of Rea has made me not a fan of the series, so I haven't watched it for a few years.

I'm sure there's been some nice battles, and fun passes, and minor drama.

But, the championship has not really been in question.

And this tells me the series is not healthy, because I know that others can bring it to Rea, he's not a machine. Spies brought it to Mladin.

But it does suggest that the other teams (not necessarily the riders), are not trying hard enough, or the series won't let them.

In AMA, Yamaha ceded Superbike to Suzuki and took their fight to Supersport. "Look, we still get trophies, so why fight over there?"

Nothing against Josh Hayes, a dominant AMA championship winner, but the championships he won in AMA weren't fought for against the caliber of teams and riders Mladin was competing against.

It's just more evidence that the folks that pay for race teams aren't willing pay for them. The teams seem to be showing up for participation trophies, not championships.

Rossi showed similar dominance in GP, but GP is GP, a much wider open championship machine wise, and Rossi is Rossi.

So, something is wrong, IMHO. SBK should be a much closer series than it is (and it is close, just not at the front).

 

[Busy Little Shop]

Just think Honda had the right rider to win consistently but failed him year after
year when the CEO stop fighting with the best HRC could dream up...

 

[Lonster]

Jonathan Rea can ride a poorly setup bike faster than most. He can ride a well setup bike faster than anyone.

 

[budman]

Just think Honda had the right rider to win consistently but failed him year after
year when the CEO stop fighting with the best HRC could dream up...

Damn straight. A little HRC love and JR would have rocked on the Honda. He did amazing things on a not set up well bike as Lonster put it.

In this case set up to be competitive.