The Pirelli Spanish Round has gone down in history as the WorldSBK race meeting at which Jonathan Rea was crowned World Champion of 2015. The British rider, standard bearer of the Kawasaki Racing Team, clinched the ultimate goal in Race 1 courtesy of his fourth position. He has been pursuing the title since his first full campaign in 2009.
Rea first mounted the all-conquering Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R at MotorLand Aragon on 17 November 2014, supported all the way by Team Manager and former rider Guim Roda. The Northern Irishman arrived in Malaysia at the start of August already with a mathematic chance of claiming the title, despite three rounds still remaining of the 13. After Race 1 at Jerez, he has now won 12 races this year and picked up 20 podium finishes from the first 21 races. He is chasing Doug Polen’s 1991 record of 17 race victories in one season, which now can only be equalled.
Since the inauguration of WorldSBK in 1988, Rea is the third rider to win the crown on a Kawasaki motorcycle. The first was American Scott Russell in 1993, while the next was Rea’s current team-mate Tom Sykes two decades later. Rea has also become the first different World Champion in as many years (with the last five titles having been sealed by Carlos Checa, Max Biaggi, Tom Sykes and Sylvain Guintoli) and the fifth British World Champion after Carl Fogarty, Neil Hodgson, James Toseland and the aforementioned Tom Sykes.
Although Rea’s raw talent has never been questioned over the past six seasons, all of which he contested on Honda machinery, it wasn’t until the 28-year-old from Ballymena rode the green bike until his maximum potential could be extracted. All the while off the track, the humble Briton has remained a professional, unassuming human being, rider, husband and father. He currently resides on the Isle of Man.
The coveted crown in his hands, the new number one faces the rest of the season with copious amount of convince, fully aware of the many goals he can still achieve and the fact that Jonathan Rea is the 2015 eni FIM Superbike World Champion.
