SBK | Pata Italian Round, Race 2: Rea increasingly legendary

Now he can only beat himself: Jonathan Rea writes his name once again, with more force, in the history of Motorsport thanks to an extraordinary double in the two races of the fifth round of the Superbike World Championship, which concluded today in Imola.

With these further victories in his palmarès, the reigning Tri-World Champion reaches a legend like Carl Fogarty in terms of number of successes in the premier class of production derivatives, 59: if we think that the Northern Irishman is not a rider at the end of his career but indeed he is in top form and can count on a very competitive bike, it is clear how this record, which has remained intact for 20 years, is destined to be updated.

To celebrate him, let's look back together at the most decisive victories of his career.

His first victory came in Race 2 at Misano in 2009, by just 63 thousandths of an advantage over Michel Fabrizio at the end of a sensational duel.
In 2012 the tenth victory came, with Honda, in front of his fans at Donington Park, while the last success with the Japanese manufacturer came in Portimao in 2014.
Having moved to Kawasaki in 2015, Jonathan Rea showed everyone his crystalline talent and an iron will: he won in his debut race at Phillip Island, taking his 16th overall victory, while his 25th success came again at Portimao.

In 2015 he achieved 14 victories to which must be added the nine in 2016 but it was the following year in which he gave the decisive push to Fogarty's record: at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France he won the race number 50 of his career, he became World Champion for the third consecutive time, but he still left nothing to his opponents, closing 2017 with doubles in Jerez and Qatar.

The current season did not start in the best way for Rea, struggling with the need to adapt the Ninja to the new technical regulations: the reigning champion, however, was able to react, taking 5 victories in 10 races and reaching the legend.

We are sure Rea now has overtaking in his sights already at Donington Park, where the Prosecco UK Round will take place in two weeks.