Rea: Kawasaki need to improve to avoid ‘crisis mode’ at certain tracks

2021 WorldSBK runner-up Jonathan Rea is hoping for a more complete bike from Kawasaki next season after losing the title to Toprak Razgatlioglu. 

The Yamaha rider’s incredible championship win means he’s the first man to get the better of Rea since the latter joined Kawasaki in 2015.

But while winning the title took a monumental effort from Razgatlioglu, defending his crown is likely to be equally as tough as Rea is hoping to come back even stronger next season. 

Rea himself has dealt with the pressure of being champion on six occasions and knows how challenging it is to manage different situations, something he alluded to following the season finale in Mandalika. 

"Well there’s not too many back-to-back champions. It’s really difficult to win and to stay winning," added Rea. 

"I know from my first year that winning the championship; the amount of media commitments and travel was quite difficult. I arrived in 2016 quite tired from all that. 

"Of course, the goal next year is the same: try to learn from my mistake and improve, but also improve our bike. We really need to improve the bike. 

"Kawasaki needs to step-up, but we know when it’s working that it’s one of the most competitive bikes, so we just need to polish up our weak spots and we should be there again fighting. 

"I enjoyed the fighting this year with Scott, with Toprak and it was fun. I like racing like that. Hopefully there'll be many more battles like that in 2022." 

For Rea to better Razgatlioglu next season, a task that could be the toughest of his career, an improved package from Kawasaki is a must according to the Northern Irishman.

Rea suffered several uncharacteristic crashes in 2021, which was a result of being in ‘crisis mode’ too often. Acceleration and top speed are the key areas Rea has highlighted as major areas of emphasis.

"We need to improve our acceleration and top speed. Circuits where we accelerated from first gear this year like Most and Navarra were so difficult," said the six-time world champion. 

"Sometimes we would lose 0.3 in a straight line which puts me in crisis mode for the rest of the lap which makes it difficult to maintain the lap time. 

"That’s the main area of focus. We have some areas where we can improve the bike I think, for example the engine which we are working really hard on with the engineers. We will test that in December to really evaluate."