Rarely has the official Kawasaki Rea been shaken up in this way in a WSBK category that he has dominated for many seasons. Since the Superpole race at Phillip Island in 2020, Rea has always been in the points and he has been on the podium in every race in 2021. A great run which came to an end in the second race at Donington. And the Northern Irishman pays a high price for it. Even if he made it a point of honor to finish his race in last place after his fall, he must in fact leave control of the championship to his rival and winner of the round Toprak Razgatlioglu...
A change which was certainly only made for two points, which can be taken up from the next game at Assen. However, Sale took the measure of his adversary Donington : “ now it is also clear that he will fight for the title this year “, said the Kawasaki rider. “ Toprak was having his day and doing a great job. Now I need to make the most of my options. I found my limit and I paid the price ».
Sale had arrived at Donington 20 points ahead of Razgatilioglu which first approached 15 lengths after his victory in the Race 1. Then the test of Super poles returned to Sale who put the Turk to 23 points. There Race 2 was synonymous with a blank result for the driver in green while Toprak took the lead to take the overall lead for two people units.
« Everything is fine with me, I'm just a little frustrated Admitted Sale on Speedweek. “ A bittersweet Sunday. In the Superpole race I felt stressed because some drivers were using wet tires and we were using intermediates. And after the warm-up lap, I knew that slicks would have been the best choice because almost the entire course was dry. But it went well and I was able to take the lead and win ».
Rea: “I thought this would be my day”
« As we had a lot of problems in the first race, we changed bikes for the second race. When Toprak overtook me, I lost time and then made another mistake in the chicane. But I caught up quickly and quite easily. So I thought this would be my day », continued the pilot of 34 years. “ I followed him for a while, then he made a mistake. I continued to keep my pace and the good feeling. On the next lap I hit a bump and the front wheel collapsed ».
« Still, I felt better than Saturday because I couldn't fight in the first round. Now I just made a mistake and had to give up the championship lead ". This season will be a real fight for Sale who must now consider Redding more like an outsider. He is at 66 lengths after a complicated English weekend, for him as for Ducati...
WSBK Championship ranking after Donington:
Credit classification wsbk.com
