It’s party time for Rea in Assen as he brings up 100 WorldSBK wins with Kawasaki

Following another epic showdown between the top three WorldSBK riders in the world, Jonathan Rea has finally got his hands on the cake he wanted after winning his 100th race with Kawasaki.

Robert Jones

24 Apr 2022

Rea’s first WorldSBK win with the Japanese manufacturer came during his first race as a factory Kawasaki rider (Phillip Island 2015), before the Northern Irishman went on to take another 12 victories en route to a first Superbike title in said season.

Although Rea failed to match his double digit win tally in 2016, a second world title came his way after getting the better of team-mate at the time Tom Sykes and Ducati’s Chaz Davies.

That season is so far the only campaign where Rea has not won ten or more races with Kawasaki - 2017 and 2019 are his most successful - 17 wins in both.

After clinching 100 WorldSBK wins in 2021, and now 100 with one manufacturer in 2022, Rea’s status as the greatest ever Superbike rider is going to take some beating

So far this weekend Rea has achieved the double at Assen, could yet complete a second hat-trick for the second time in as many seasons at the Dutch venue, while a title charge is well and truly underway for the current series leader.

But despite his Assen double, Rea is likely to face another tightly contested battle with Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu.

All three riders led for parts of race one and again in this morning’s Superpole race, which is a continuation of their incredible racing at the season opener in Aragon two weeks ago.

Redding, BMW remain a long way away from WorldSBK contention

Michael Bartholemy and Scott Redding, Assen WorldSBK, 24 April

While one race remains this weekend and anything can happen, it’s so far been another tough outing for BMW and its star rider Scott Redding.

The 2020 runner-up was only 11th in the Superpole race, resulting in a third no-score from five races.

Redding managed to show better pace during race one as he claimed a first top ten of the year, however, the German manufacturer remains a long way off its competitors.

Not only is the final position a long way off where Redding should be, the pace difference per lap is over a second more often than not, a margin that at this level is hugely difficult to close down, let alone recover fully.

Hoping to avoid the same issues with tyre degredation in race two, Redding called Saturday's race 'about surviving the last six laps'.

Rinaldi, Locatelli, Lowes struggling to match the top three

Also struggling to match the top three despite being on the same machinery are Michael Rinaldi, Andrea Locatelli, and Alex Lowes.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Assen WorldSBK, 23 April

Rinaldi and Locatelli have consistently been in the top five during races, and while it’s been a solid start for both Italians, the pace difference is again proving to be too big.

For Lowes, round two has so far been a disaster for the Brit as he’s retired from both races.

Not struggling for pace have been two rookies in particular...

Iker Lecuona, who despite two crashes so far this weekend, will start from fifth after securing two top fives in both Assen races.

Clearly the favourite for rookie of the year honours, Lecuona may have a fight on his hands as Ducati rider Philipp Oettl has looked very strong at Assen too. The German will start race two from tenth - finished seventh in race one.