After the sequence of events that happened at Misano which resulted in zero points for the unlucky Dani Pedrosa which handed the Repsol Honda rider a massive blow in his title aspirations.
Pedrosa admitted that it was hard to stay focused especially after his discussions with the race direction, that he continues to believe were wrong giving him a penalty – adding that he is beginning to understand Casey Stoner’s motives for retiring and that the sport is changing in worse for the riders, as no one listens to them.
The Repsol Honda rider was also distracted by the difficult weather conditions and his qualifying crash made things even harder, but he bounced back to take second on the qualifying grid and then very dominating win at Aragon over Jorge Lorenzo.
“In the race I remained calm and was able to focus, Jorge began very fast in the early laps but I was able to stay with him and then after a few laps I saw I could increase the pace and I passed him and tried to find my own rhythm.
I was concentrating so hard that I almost forgot that it was a race, then I realised there were only four laps to go! I had a few issues with the clutch into the corners, shifting down, as I did yesterday, but overall the bike was working well so thanks to all my team for their hard work last night and to my fans and family for their support, this victory is for them all.
”Jonathan Rea woke up with a sore throat today, but in his second race with the RC213V, the Superbike rider scored a very impressive 7th place, one position better than at Misano, however this time he almost also had a run in with Valentino Rossi, who made a very serious error, almost a rookie error trying to overtake the Honda rider, but Rea held his line, leaving the Italian to ride off track.
Rea will be racing in the final round of the World Superbike championship next weekend at Magny Cours and at the moment it is unsure wether he’ll be needed in Japan to continue replacing Casey Stoner, however rumors have it that Stoner will be at Motegi and will try to ride in the first free practice to test his fitness and then decide, so the Northern Irishman could be present and on call just in case Stoner is unable to ride.
“I’m happy I achieved my goal of reducing the gap to the guys at the front, in the end we managed it by 10 seconds but it was another difficult race as I found myself on my own again.
At the beginning I let Álvaro have too big a gap and when I tried to make a push, it wasn’t enough and we were only taking tenths out of him but I’m quite satisfied and I’ve learned a lot.
In this race it was quite confusing for me as I was playing with the traction control buttons, the torque settings and the engine braking just to try and figure out what was happening, then there came a point where I told myself just to ride this thing and see what happens.
It’s been amazing to get this chance and I’m not totally sure what’s happening for Motegi but my best wishes go to Casey and I hope he comes back and shows the World the rider he is and ends his final season on a high.
I want to thank all of HRC and the Repsol Honda Team for this opportunity and for treating me like one of their own, not like a replacement rider, it’s been an amazing experience.
This is my tenth year in the Honda family and hopefully I can come back here someday,” said Rea.