Rea ‘frustrated’ by crash after fastest lap, bike had ‘pretty big dent in it’

Fourth fastest on day one of WorldSBK testing at Phillip Island, Rea was pleased with how his ZX-10RR was performing in some areas, however, bumps around the Australian circuit were proving to be a challenge for the six-time champion.

Although the bumps have not gotten worse since racing at Phillip Island in late November, in his opinion, Rea and Kawasaki now have just one more day of pre-season testing to iron out the issues. 

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"Positive but also mixed," said Rea following day one. "We had some really good feelings with the bike but some not so good that we’ll try to resolve tomorrow. 

"Some issues with the bumps. The bumps aren’t getting worse but the bike feels different compared to last year. 

"Also the temperature is a lot higher compared to last year so the grip levels are good but they’re of course dropping much more than in November."

Like rivals Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista, Rea was last of the so-called ‘titanic trio’ to suffer a crash after going down at turn 4. 

The fall, which resulted in his Kawasaki machine suffering a big dent in the side of its fuel tank, came at turn 4 moments after Bautista went down at the same corner.

It also came after setting the quickest time of the session before Razgatlioglu, Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Bautista all moved ahead.  

Summing up his crash, Rea said: "Was basically a mix of things. I went out with a completely different wheelbase and also a new hard front tyre that I hadn’t used yet and was pushing hard. 

"I had just set the fastest lap of the session just before and then the next lap I went in with good power, good feelings - on the data is was very similar but with just a little bit more lean angle - it’s just one them things. 

"Frustrated because I was relatively unscathed and I went with the same gloves, same everything, but the bike not so much. I put a pretty big dent in it. 

"I went out straight away again and was fast, but just working on them key areas and trying to manage those bumps better tomorrow."