Rea credits ‘wheelbase’ changes for Assen clean-sweep

Jonathan Rea leaves round five of the WorldSBK championship at Assen with a 37 point lead thanks to a stunning hat-trick of wins. 

Rea showed his and the Kawasaki Ninja ZX10-RR’ versatility once again as he won with different tyres, while making considerable changes to the ‘wheelbase’ during Sunday’s double header. 

"It was nice to make it three-from-three here at Assen. We achieved it after we changed the rear tyre choice from yesterday," said Rea.

"My team did an incredible job. We changed the base setup of the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR to be honest. Wheelbase wise, I could make the bike much more nimble, changing direction was better. 

"I was using less track than usual, preserving the tyre. We won yesterday with the SCX tyre and today we went with the SC0 and I was still able to have a good result. That’s all testament to the good work going inside the KRT box.”

"We just changed the length of the wheelbase quite a lot. From the front header pipe position to the rear swingarm length, the combination worked really well. 

"We were able to work calmly through the weekend. We made a long run on Friday; we knew all the information we needed for the races."

Rea, who came into the weekend trailing Toprak Razgatlioglu by two points, dramatically increased his gap in race two after Garrett Gerloff took out his fellow Yamaha rider. 

The six-time world champion’s clean-sweep of wins means Rea leaves Assen with a total of 15 victories at the Dutch circuit - three more than the next best - another tally held by Rea at Portimao.  

Rea seemed to have significant points around the ‘cathedral of speed’ where he gained time on all his competitors. One of those was the change of direction between turns six and seven: "You could see in my passes, I could put the bike where I wanted and it was very nimble, yet stable in the fast sections as well," added Rea.