Had he been born Spanish or Italian, he would have had this chance years ago. As it is I think it's too late for Rea to start thinking of carving out a career in motogp.
Anyone who has really done anything in MotoGP has come up through the smaller classes not WSBK or other big bikes. Possible exceptions Hayden and Pies. Why do you think that is?
Rea needs to reign himself in a bit, being aggressive is all very well but some of his moves verge on the ridiculous, particularly the Donnington move on Haslam. I agree with the earlier post about it being too late for him in MotoGp, and he's not got enough time to learn the bike to make himself competitive. If Honda are serious about using him, then he should ride Casey'sbike for the rest of the season, Casey can't win the title now, and he's retiring, so let Rea give it a go and we'll see if he makes the same mistakes and manages to piss the paddock off there too!
I think his move on Haslam was fine. Haslam can't expect to just come back onto the racing line after going wide - if there's a gap you stick it in there! That's racing. Jonny's aggressive and good on him. He's now being repaid for years of loyal service in Ten Kate when Honda know very well they've been stringing him along with promises of a GP bike, and so they should. He's had offers to move to a more competitive SBK but he stayed loyal.
His loyalty is not in question! He has been incredibly loyal and does deserve a chance, hence my observation about taking over Casey's bike for the rest of the season, however I think we will have to agree to disagree about some of his moves. I don't think Haslam was that wide, Melandri was but Haslam was pretty darn close to the racing line as he was coming inside Marco and Rea went for what was a closing gap that he was never going to make. It's just he doesn't seem to have picked up on the fact that it's a very fine line between being a good aggressive rider, and one who takes ( sometimes) unnecessary risks.
My prediction? He'll be fighting CRT bikes or take out Lorenzo...maybe thats whats he is there for, to sew up the title for Pedrosa whatever way he can....1st corner 'it was a gap, its racng not knitting' escapade anyone?!
Rea will have a decent race and then chuck it up the road in every other race. My prediction he wont ever win a championship anywhere.
Do you think he will be far enough up the grid to do that? I'm not knocking him, just don't think he'll have had enough time on board to get the grid position. If he makes the 3rd row it will be an achievement.
Like on Chas Davies at the last race?! I'm pretty aggressive and I whince at his passes sometimes...if it means you run into someone it wasnt a gap! You've raced Tony, I've seen you chuck the toys, and you'd have accepted any of those moves on you would you?! Suggest not Only variable to that is the Marquez/Espagaro clash where Mrq had lost it, ran almost off track and came back into Esp. Esp was a little behind him but no way Marq should have gone for the apex from there, he will have known Esp would be there...every time Rea runs into someone hye may be looking at a late apex or similar but are afoot tops from the inside and he has no gap....just shoves it in anyway. Seeley does it on the roads too, hence Dunlop looking like he was going to whatck him at the NW200 this year and refusing to talk to him But...hope he does well as it could mean other Brits are looked at for the top class. Who knows, maybeif he takes that feck it attitude he rides with it may at least make the product more attractive for a period!
There's only one time I can recall being peeved about a move that someone has put on me before and that was actually when I was trying to pass them and they pulled across on me, changing their line, completely at the last second. Nearly had me off. If circumstances were different then I'm sure a lot of people would have known about it, but I didn't do anything about it. I'm also aware that my courteous nature on track has cost me silverware, especially early on. That's ok, I'm glad I've never punted anyone or made anyone crash-we all had to go to work on Monday :smile: I know I'm not as aggressive on the passes as some others, I prefer to make a nice clean pass, but I don't begrudge others putting hard passes in. If anything it makes me more determined to pass them cleanly. The Donington clash with Haslam was a racing incident, no one's fault. Haslam was wide, thanks to Melandri I think, and so Rea went into the gap. Fair enough. The only problem was when Haslam tried to come back onto the racing line mid-corner. It was a gamble and it didn't pay off. I'm not saying there's some dangerous passes going on out there, that would be naive. But it's pretty hard to be critical of a racer who sees a gap and goes for it - that IS what they're paid for after all.
