Frustrated Jonathan Rea brands Hungary ‘one of the most frustrating weekends' of his career

Belfast Telegraph

7 days ago

The Balaton Park circuit was hosting a round of the series for the first time and also had the honour of marking a milestone 1000th race for the championship, which was won by reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu, who completed a clean sweep for a treble.
Rea's best result was ninth in the wet Superpole race yesterday on the Pata Maxus Yamaha.
The six-time champion crashed twice in Saturday's race and ended the weekend with 12th place in the final race.
He is 18th in the standings as speculation continues over his future, with the 38-year-old strongly linked with a move to another manufacturer for 2026.
Rea said: 'This morning was wet, I didn't have a really good feeling with the bike – just a lack of rear traction – and it was a little bit the same in the Superpole Race.
'We started with a drying line and when there were risks to be taken, I was ready to take those risks – but (Xavi) Vierge came underneath me at T4 and picked me up into the wet stuff.
'I lost so much track position and when I was coming back, (Nicolo) Bulega was in front and he was slowing everyone down in the group with intermediate tyres.
'I just couldn't get past him and it was frustrating.'
For the final race, Rea said he was having issues with grip from the beginning.
'Unfortunately, in the long Race 2, I struggled from the get-go with grip,' Rea said.
'I got a decent start and was inside the top six in the first corner but without grip I was a sitting duck.
'I don't feel like I was riding very well and to make it worse I didn't have a great feeling with my bike today because we didn't quite nail the set-up and I didn't feel comfortable.
'It was one of the most frustrating weekends to be honest.'
Razgatlioglu's hat-trick has given him a lead of 26 points over Italy's Bulega, who finished 13th in the Superpole race in the wet and second twice in the longer 21-lap races.
Turkish rider Razgatlioglu won the 1000th race World Superbike race yesterday and has his sights set on winning the title for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad team for the second successive year before he makes the move to the MotoGP World Championship.
There is now a lengthy summer break before round nine at Magny-Cours in France from September 5-7.
Meanwhile, David Allingham from Eglinton won both National Superstock 1000 races over the weekend at the fifth round of the British Superbike Championship.
Allingham, riding the SBS/Nicholl Oils BMW, held off Ukraine's Ilya Mikhalchick (ROKiT BMW) by 0.350s in Saturday's opening race and repeated the feat yesterday, wrapping up a double by six-tenths-of-a-second over championship leader Mikhalchick.
Allingham has moved into third in the championship and is 47 points off the top spot.
There were wins for Scott Redding and reigning champion Kyle Ryde in the BSB races.
Redding, who will ride for the Hager PBM Ducati team for the rest of the season, won the 12-lap Sprint race after title pacesetter Bradley Ray – Saturday's race winner – slipped off on the Raceways Yamaha while leading.
In the final race of the weekend at the Kent circuit, Ryde (OMG Nitrous Competitions Yamaha) held off Danny Kent (McAMS Yamaha) for his first victory of the campaign, with Redding edging out Ray for third.
Ray's lead has now been reduced to 34 points by Ryde.
Hager PBM Ducati rider Glenn Irwin missed the Brands round but hopes to return at Thruxton next month as he continues to recover from injuries sustained in a crash at Snetterton.
Andrew Irwin was seventh in the Sprint race yesterday but the Honda Racing UK rider crashed out in Race 3.
Scott Swann (IWR Honda) twice finished 12th.