Jonathan Rea says he was in “survival mode” within the last levels of the ultimate race at Holland World SBK.
Rea changed injured Honda HRC rider Jake Dixon at Assen for the second consecutive World Superbike race, however the former Moto2 race winner was injured throughout winter testing in Australia and was sidelined.
The Northern Irishman mentioned he was higher ready for the Dutch spherical than he was in Portugal three weeks in the past, however ended up failing to select up any factors all weekend.
Ray was additionally the one Honda rider on monitor as Somkiat Chantra was dominated ineligible following a crash in FP3.
Though the ultimate end result wasn’t something particular, Rea was in a position to at the least have interaction in battles and change passes early within the race, and was proud of what adopted in Race 2.
Nonetheless, because the race progressed, the entrance tire deteriorated, and in direction of the tip of the race, he was unable to keep up tempo.
Jonathan Rea mentioned after Race 2: “Race 2, at the least the primary half, was enjoyable. Regardless of the dangerous begin, I made a couple of passes and was capable of finding rhythm.”
“My lap time was within the mid 1:34 vary, which was the quickest lap time all weekend.My tempo was good and I felt snug.
“However across the eleventh or twelfth lap, I began to wrestle with the entrance tire. I had somewhat little bit of time and located it tough to show as a result of I wasn’t placing the identical load on the tire.”
“To be sincere, I used to be in survival mode on the finish. It was irritating as a result of I used to be feeling good bodily.”
Regardless of his struggles late within the race, Rea was proud of the work he did over the weekend and felt he and Honda had made progress regardless of not scoring any factors.
“They made some adjustments to the set-up immediately from apply one and it labored nicely for us to discover some choices on the bike,” he mentioned.
“If I’ve to return tomorrow, after all I have already got a variety of concepts to strive in order that I can go quicker on the finish of the race.
“We made some progress this weekend, though we all know the outcomes do not replicate that. Now that the weekend is over, we want Somkiat (Chantra) a speedy restoration, and Jake (Dixon) as nicely. We hope they’ll make a comeback in Balaton.”
