Assen WorldSBK: 'They can prepare a cake'; Jonathan Rea on the verge of history

Jonathan Rea sits on 99 WorldSBK wins with Kawasaki after taking victory in a classic showdown at Assen, so, is a slice of 'cake' on the menu should he pick up win #100 on Sunday?
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki WorldSBK Assen
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki WorldSBK Assen

The six-time WorldSBK champion produced one of the bes🌌t races of his career to overcome significant challenges from both Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista.⛎ 

Rea, who was already the most successful Superbike rider ever 🍌around Assen heading into the weekend, took his 16th win a⛄t the Dutch TT, which is three more than his next best record of 13 at Portimao. 

After clinching 100 WorldSBK wins in 2021 🌄two more opportunities on Sunday could allow Rea to make that 100 with Kawasaki as he continues to break records. 

Should he do so, which at this stage l🌳ooks likely, then what type of celebration does Rea anticipate. 

Before Friday’s action Rea said a 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:‘maybe they can prepare a cake’ in the event he wins two of the three races, and although he joked after winning race one that those things have little importance, reaching the above-mentioned milestone with Kawasaki is far from a joke, in fact, it’s a big target going fo๊rward: "Step by step. We don’t want to think too much about that. Of course, the target 🐲is to go out and get as many points as we can, try to win the race, but not for a piece of cake. 

"I don’t know if the team have got anything planned but 100 wins for a manufacಞturer is an incredible milestone and, of course, that’s the next big hurdle for us.

"If it’s not tomorrow, I’m su🍃re it’s going to happen at some point this season. We can be very proud of our partnership together and look forward to many more race wins."

Jonathan Rea, Assen WorldSBK, race1, 23 April
Jonathan Rea, Assen WorldSBK, race1, 23 April

During race o꧟ne, Rea, Razgatlioglu and Bautista all had moments where they appeared to be faster than the other. But after finding a way to impressively push and conserve the tyre at the same time, Rea started to open up a small lead during the final five laps. 

But after gainin🀅g a couple of tenths o🍨n laps 19 and 20, Bautista, who was visibly on the limit as he tried to close in for one final effort at the win, did just that as the pair started sector four. 

However, with Rea traditionally stronger than Bautista on the brakes, the Kawasaki rider used that to his advantage as he w𓄧ent extremely deep into the final chicane in order to avoid the Ducati rider sliding up the inside.

In epic fashion, Re🍰a managed to pull his ZX10-RR down to the apex, before crossing the line just 0.103s ahead of Bautista. 

"It was so tough," added Rea. "Both Alvaro and Toprak were✨ super strong, especially in 🐭that middle part of the race, in the middle or latter part. 

"The gap on my pit boar🐻d was always so small. I understood that I was in front. I must’ve been in front because they weren’t comi๊ng past. 

"Some things w𝔍ere going through my head, ‘are they hanging me out to dry with my tyre, or maybe they🧜 don’t have the pace’. 

"It was all going on in my head, but I thought🍸 ‘just keep doing what you’re doing, keep doing my own rhythm, looking after my own tyre, worrying about my race and being strong in the areas I could, to limit my mistakes’."

Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Andrea Locatelli, Alvaro Bautista and Alex Lowes, Assen WorldSBK race1, 23 April
Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Andrea Locatelli, Alvaro Bautista and Alex Lowes, Assen…

Front tyre issues cost Razgatlioglu again in Assen WorldSBK race one

For the reigning world champion, race one promi♚sed so much after delivering an outrageous lap in Supe💫rpole. 

Razgatlioglu was four tenths clear of anyone aftꦐe🧸r setting the first ever sub 1m 33s lap on Superbike machinery at Assen, however, more tyre issues like in Aragon proved to be the Turk’s downfall. 

"I🔯 tried my best but, in the rac𒅌e, I was feeling some tyre problems," claimed Razgatlioglu. "Also, I tried fighting. Third position finish. We are again on the podium; we take good points for the championship. We are trying our best today. I need to win now. 

"I’m alwa꧙ys in third position, but for me this isn’t enough. Tomorrow I will fight for the win again. ꦍIt won’t be easy because everybody is very fast, Alvaro and Jonny are very fast."

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