By Mike Nicks
There’s something about Jonathan Rea that makes him different from the rest. It’s as though, when he was plucked from motocross racing and given the chance to go road racing with the Red Bull Rookies in 2003, he saw a vision stretching a long way ahead. Even at his inexperienced age he had the savvy to see that once you’re invited into the Honda family, you can ride all the way to the top – if you take care of yourself and present yourself properly.
"I had to grow up or I would never have survived in that infrastructure," he said before the first round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at
Brands Hatch. "So where I am now, I put that down to being pro-active and building good relationships with
Red Bull. From those relationships, the Honda factory and the Honda team have taken a big interest in me. I build on that."
So Rea is self-confident: he knows what he does well. Equally, he can be brutally honest with himself. "My aim is to win the British Superbike Championship," he said. "If I don’t, it’s my fault. I have the best team and best crew. This is a factory racing team with five Japanese mechanics, so it’s serious stuff."
Rea crashed 14 times last year in Honda’s satellite team, and although he achieved two poles and three podiums, he failed to win a race. So isn’t he kidding himself to talk of winning the title this year, even though he’s armed with the official HM Plant Fireblade? Well, riders have got to convince themselves that they can do it, or they’ll never survive the mental pressure of top-level motorcycle racing - arguably the world’s toughest sport if you consider the mix of aggression, coolness, heat, noise, fear, analysis, danger and severe pain that riders confront.
