Latest news with #ROKiTBMW
Belfast Telegraph
3 days ago
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Frustrated Jonathan Rea brands Hungary ‘one of the most frustrating weekends' of his career
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.
Sunday World
13-07-2025
- Automotive
- Sunday World
‘Right now, it's too early' – Jonathan Rea remaining tight-lipped on his next move
Jonathan Rea is in the final year of his contract with Yamaha. Rea claimed his best result of the season yesterday in the opening race after getting the better of Scott Redding (MGM Bonovo Ducati) to finish fifth. The Northern Ireland rider wore a special replica of Joey Dunlop's famous yellow helmet to honour the legend 25 years after he died following a crash during a race in Estonia in July 2000. Reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW) won the race to slash Nicolo Bulega's advantage at the top of the championship to only four points ahead of today's races. Bulega ( Ducati) finished as the runner-up, 6.5s behind pole man Razgatlioglu and clear of Danilo Petrucci in third on the Barni Spark Racing Ducati. Rea, who also earned his best qualifying result in 2025 yesterday of fourth, was 13th in the championship in his maiden season as a Yamaha rider last year after making the switch from Kawasaki. The 38-year-old enjoyed nine hugely successful years at Team Green, winning an unprecedented six consecutive world crowns to become the most successful competitor in the championship's history. However, he has struggled to challenge at the front after joining the Pata Maxus Yamaha team and has yet to add to his record tally of 119 victories on the R1. Rea's best result in 2024 was third in the Superpole race at Donington. He was optimistic of a much better year in 2025, but a crash at the start of the season in testing at Phillip Island in Australia in February forced him to miss the opening three rounds. Rea is in the final year of his contract with Yamaha and has been linked with several teams for 2026, although the Ballyclare man was reluctant to shed any light on what his future in the series may hold. 'Right now, it's too early. It's like a top-down effect; Toprak (Razgatlioglu) and (Nicolo) Bulega got fixed but normally you don't start talking about the future until the summer break at least,' Rea said. 'We'll get Donington under our belt and then really understand what the future looks like. I want to really focus on my weekend, do a really strong Donington and we'll understand what that looks like. 'Donington was probably my strongest round last year, alongside Estoril. 'I really enjoyed the bike. I feel like my season's just starting after missing the first few rounds with injury. Right now, we're still building the momentum into the year. 'In racing, things can change quickly, with a small confidence boost. 'I feel we're still building momentum into the year, we're definitely behind after missing the first rounds,' he added. 'It's going to be great to have good home support and a lot of travelling support from Northern Ireland and it's my team's home race as well, so a lot to get excited for and let's hope we can be closer to the sharp end and fight where both the bike and the team deserve.' His team-mate, Andrea Locatelli, finished fourth, while Rea passed Redding on the penultimate lap to claim fifth. England's Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing) crashed out early while leading. Today's Superpole race is at 11am followed by Race Two at 2pm.
Belfast Telegraph
15-06-2025
- Automotive
- Belfast Telegraph
Jonathan Rea admits ‘fundamentally, I still don't understand the bike' following a mixed weekend in Misano
The Northern Ireland rider has been unable to show the form that fired him to a record six world titles and 119 victories since he left Kawasaki to join the factory Yamaha team in 2024. Rea finished a disappointing 13th in his maiden season on the R1 machine last year and has struggled to challenge for the top six this season after making his comeback from injury. The 38-year-old missed the first three rounds after breaking bones in his left foot in a crash during testing at Phillip Island in Australia in February. On Sunday, Rea sealed his best result of the year with seventh in the Superpole race at Misano in Italy after crossing the line in 12th in Saturday's opener at round six. However, he crashed out of ninth in the final race to end the weekend on a disappointing note and is now pinning his hopes on a big weekend at the next round at Donington Park from July 11-13, where he earned his sole podium result in 2024 with third in the Superpole race. 'We can grind out results but I think fundamentally, I still don't understand the bike too much, especially when we have to go for Superpole,' said Rea yesterday. 'Superpole has been my nemesis since I've rode the bike really and I'm struggling with that. 'When you can't put yourself in a good position straight away, the class is so tough now – the front two guys (Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega) are incredible and are almost a race within a race – that next group is incredibly competitive. 'So, if you can't start near the front of that, you make life tough. But Donington next is a good opportunity for us, we were quite strong there last year and I got my only podium in the Superpole race. 'If we can put everything together, try to do all our work on Friday, there's no reason why we can't have a successful weekend there.' Analysing his crash, Rea said he lost the front in what had been a 'strange' tumble. 'Going into T1, like usual the rear was bouncing around and when it picked up and landed I literally lost the front straightaway – nowhere near the apex – so a strange one,' he said. 'So frustrating, because the trajectory of the weekend had been a really positive one, from missing FP1 to finishing seventh in the Superpole race, and it was unfortunate to end on a tough note.' Turkey's Toprak Razgatlioglu completed a clean sweep for a treble on the ROKiT BMW, slashing championship leader Nicolo Bulega's gap to nine points. Bulega held an advantage of 31 points coming into the weekend but was dealt a blow when he was taken out by Axel Bassani at the first corner on the opening lap of the Superpole race. Razgatlioglu underscored his dominance at Misano as he wrapped up victory in Race 2 yesterday by over nine seconds from Bulega ( Ducati) in what has become a two-horse fight for the title. 'I'm very happy, last year I had three wins here and this year I did it again, now I'm looking forward to Donington,' said reigning champion Razgatlioglu, who will make the move to MotoGP in 2026 with the Pramac Yamaha team. 'This is my last season, but if I was continuing in this paddock, I think we could set many records here, maybe in the future. It makes winning this season feel that much better.'
Belfast Telegraph
02-06-2025
- Automotive
- Belfast Telegraph
Davey Todd fends off Michael Dunlop to win delayed Isle of Man TT Superbike race: ‘It was pretty special'
Todd was pushed hard by Dunlop (ROKiT BMW) but held on to win by just under 1.3s after four laps in the first race of the 2025 Isle of Man TT, which was delayed from a planned 10:45am start until 12 noon due to oils spills on the Mountain section and from Bray Hill to Quarterbridge. The 29-year-old was seven seconds up after two laps but a slower pitstop than Dunlop cost him around six seconds. Dunlop began to slash the deficit and was only 0.269s behind at Glen Helen on the final lap, but the Northern Ireland rider lost some ground when he caught Honda Racing's Dean Harrison on the road and also struggled with rear tyre problems. Dunlop still recorded the fastest lap of the race at 135.416mph on the last lap, marginally quicker than Todd's 135.327mph effort. It wasn't enough, though, as Todd held on for his third career victory at the TT, with Harrison taking third, 43.5s further back on Dunlop. 'It's pretty special,' Todd said. 'I don't think there's many guys who can say they've done that. 'I can't take the credit, though, for being team owner. It's the rest of the team who had done the hard miles, and Pete [Peter Hickman] included. 'Pete's worked his butt off to make this happen and I'm gutted for him and I can't wait till he's healed up and back battling with me.' Hickman was ruled out of the TT after crashing in qualifying at Kerrowmoar on Friday evening. Runner-up Dunlop said: 'It was hard. I was really down on the first lap and then started to claw my way back again. 'Then on the last lap I felt good, but I caught Dean at the wrong place and just started dropping seconds. 'Then we blew a hole in the tyre, the tyre's destroyed, so we lost all grip, which is highly disappointing because I knew on the last lap we could have a bit of a second breath and have another go. 'But it's just the way it is. I'm not sure what we can do to cure the issue we've now got. 'We now need to get to change that balance again for Saturday, but the lack of track time hasn't helped.' Manxman Nathan Harrison finished fourth on the H&H Motorcycles Honda ahead of David Johnson (Platinum Club Kawasaki) and James Hillier (Muc-Off Honda), with 23-time winner John McGuinness (Honda Racing) in seventh. Josh Brookes (Jackson Racing Honda) was eighth, with team-mate Paul Jordan 10th behind Michael Evans. Conor Cummins retired on the Burrows/RK Racing BMW and Banbridge man Shaun Anderson crashed out at Joey's on the Mountain, escaping serious injury.
