Superbike Misano, Race 1: Rea and Sykes comment on their race

Superbike, Pirelli Riviera di Rimini Round, Race 1. Today will be remembered as the leader's return race: Jonathan Rea breaks the streak of victories that had lasted since the Assen round, consolidates, if ever there was a need, his leadership in the standings and reminds everyone that he is the Champion .

After the extraordinary victories of Davies and Sykes it was thought that Rea could race, rightly, more with a world championship perspective than for the mere victory: today we saw that this is not the case, starting very well from the second place on the grid he overtook Sykes and no longer gave up the lead of the race, imposing a pace that only his teammate was able to keep, thus giving the public an exciting sprint finish.
Yesterday in the press conference Rea said that he was not very worried about the free practice times, and that his work was aimed at finding the most effective race pace possible: Sykes himself today admitted that his pace was excellent and that it was impossible to overcome him, given that the sectors were equally divided, where Rea lost and he gained and vice versa.

The reigning Champion was visibly very satisfied on the podium, where he brought with him his eldest son, Jack, and immediately after the ceremony he declared:

“I'm very happy with today's race. It's nice to win again because it's been missing for a long time. I knew I had good pace and I used it until the end. It was a good race, we had a crazy pace which allowed us to take the lead straight away and hold on until the end” – he said Jonathan Rhea – “I honestly thought that Tom would try about halfway through the race, but when I saw that this wasn't the case I understood that I had to stay as calm as possible and manage the race, because here in Misano it's not easy to overtake, there are few points suitable.
The pace was very good, always around 1'36, 1'35 high, in the end the tires were a little worn, I had no traction at the rear, during acceleration but also when exiting, it wasn't very easy to stop the bike.
We have to work on it for tomorrow's race."

These are instead the declarations of a Tom Sykes who was a little disappointed by the result today, where he had everything it takes to win, also considering the amazing Tissot-Superpole achieved just a couple of hours before the start, which also earned him the new track record, which he himself set last year: 1'34.214 in 2015 compared to 1'34.057 today, almost two tenths shaved off.

“I'm quite happy with my performance, we were consistent but I'm a bit disappointed because I wasn't able to win. The guys worked hard and I had a good set up. Towards the end, however, I wasn't able to do really clean laps, I wasn't really able to put myself in a position to attempt a clean attack" – he said Tom Sykes -“I certainly have to be happy with the result, yesterday everyone was impressed with the race pace that Johnny had, he was very strong and rides a Kawasaki. We must be happy because we were consistent and fast, we had all the potential to win. Obviously it bothers me a bit that I wasn't able to find the right starting point on the last lap. For tomorrow's race, I think Kawasaki is doing an excellent job with two different riders, and we will try to improve for Race 2, like everyone else. The balances are so delicate that it is easy to make some small mistakes. The package we have today is very good, so the changes will be minimal.
In the end the rear tire was quite damaged, I mean the pace that Johnny and I kept was very good from start to finish. The bike was moving a little at the end, but I think the wear is a consequence of the performance we achieved, and I have to thank the guys for that.
It wasn't a real tactic to follow Johnny so closely, in fact in some moments it was even a bit "bold", more than anything it was the consequence of the fact that the pace we had was practically identical. There were some points where I tried to get closer again to try to overtake, at turns 1 and 8, towards 3/4 and half of the race, but in the end he was in front and it was easier for him to manage the pace, he also had good acceleration on exit. So I'm a little disappointed that I didn't succeed. But in the end the race for both of them was really good.
I didn't ride with the classification in mind, certainly earning points on Chaz is positive, but I'm more disappointed not to have won. I mean Johnny did a great job and he deserves to have won, but we had really good pace, I felt good on the bike, the guys worked hard to give me the best set up possible, and I think we can do even better tomorrow .
For tomorrow I expect to still do a few laps behind Johnny at the start: he is very good, there are points where he is more effective and has good acceleration, we have to take this into account. Here in Misano the first sectors are quite slow, with many changes of direction, while the last ones are faster. Johnny and I have very different riding styles, but despite this we came very close today."