Jonathan Rea

World Superbike’s most successful rider, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), is gearing up to try and regain his title from Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK). The 35-year-old is excited to embark on another season and has already commented that he’s found better performance in braking: “Right now in January, this is our second test of our pres-eason and to be honest, we had a good test at Jerez in December where we tried some new items and I felt really good with the bike. The biggest difference is that you can brake how I want to, and I have more confidence in the front of the bike; everything is going on plan.

“Kawasaki have been working really hard in the background and hopefully we can learn some things from this test, go to Portimao, the MotorLand Aragon test before the race weekend and also Montmelo before that, where we will face our main rivals; then we can compare exactly where we are.”

The famous #65 will be back on Rea’s bike for 2022, and whilst the change was forced, he relishes the return of his number: “Changing my number, firstly, is not by choice, but of course, going back to #65… let’s say it is my career number. It gives me a lot of happy memories: I remember the #65 being on the front of my 2015 Kawasaki and it was an incredible moment, and incredible time and it changed my life.

“When I put it back on my bike in Mandalika at the end of last year, I had this nice feeling inside that ‘I’m going back to #65 and this is going to be good.’ For me, the number’s not about pressure and it’s not like when I’m racing that I see it in front of my face! It’s strange to go back to that and I might have to rejig my merchandise a little bit, because after six years, we’d started to incorporate some number ones! It’s a little bit of a change!

“Well of course, 2021 was a challenging year but also, when I look back, it was a fun year,” began a reminiscent Rea. “I really enjoyed 2021 because I learnt a lot, I was still fast, and I still battled… the battles in the races were incredible. For 2022, my target is to make less mistakes. How do we do that? We need to improve the technical package of the bike. First impressions so far are that the bike’s a little bit more user-friendly when I’m riding on my limit.

“I need to try and forget about all my other competitors and the other manufacturers and focus on my job inside Kawasaki. Sometimes last year, that was my biggest mistake: I was looking to the others. It was playing negative doubts in your head like, ‘oh, they are fast’ or ‘there bike is so fast’ but inside here, we have a great bike. Even when we have some limitations or difficulties, I can still compete for winning races. That’s what I need to focus on and bet on myself a bit more.

“When people ask, ‘what’s the difference in motivation from keeping winning or trying to beat someone again,’ it’s the same. When you’re winning, it’s almost like the fear of not winning is keeping you motivated. When you finally accept that and you’re second and you’re at peace with it, then you can work forward in a good way. There’s no fear involved, and it becomes being all about trying to win.

“This off-season has been really nice; sometimes when you’re winning a Championship, it’s incredible: for TV, for media etc. However, what you don’t see in the background is the marketing commitments, flying everywhere to see a sponsor, manufacturer, or country. The last time I was on a plane before this test was in December to come here, so I’ve had such a good off-season. Sometimes, the weight of that #1 is heavy. I’ve enjoyed the positive sides of not being World Champion, but it doesn’t outweigh wanting the #1; I want that and I’m going to work hard to get it this season.”

Assessing his main competition for the year ahead, rivals from now and before were mentioned: “Is Toprak the guy to beat? Well, let’s see! You’d be silly to bet against him and I really feel that he starts as favourite, and I think that it really helps the preparations and the hype surrounding him and his future. I’m curious to see how he is going to perform in 2022. In WorldSBK, you never know. After Toprak, so many guys filled the podium in 2021, a lot of unexpected guys and a lot of race winners, it was incredible!

“I expect the same kind of season; rookies with more experience, factories learning more, rider changes such as Bautista to Ducati, Redding to BMW and also MotoGP riders coming into Honda! It’s all change! With that, you need to understand everyone’s place and I’m sure that after three or four rounds, we’ll understand the evolution of the Championship but for me, I’m just focussed on myself. If I can do that, then I’ll be fighting for podiums and hopefully a little bit more.”

Looking back on becoming World Champion, Rea explained where the motivation comes from even after six titles: “At this stage of my career, I feel like motivation is at an all-time high. I don’t need to ride on the limit… all I wanted to be as a child was a World Champion and I did that in 2015. Right now, I’m motivated just by winning, pushing my bike to its limits, beating my rivals, but I also get a lot of enjoyment from travelling to new places and working hard with my team in the background. I don’t know when it’ll stop… what was a strange feeling for me this year was when Chaz retired. He’s been my career rivals and I almost wanted to go to Chaz and say, ‘hey man, is this something that creeps up season-by-season or race-by-race or does it just arrive one day and that’s it’ because I know my time’s going to come but I want to finish my way.

“That’s what I want… that’s how I see things. As a motorcycle racer, that never happens, but I must say that the feeling isn’t around right now. It’s about winning, trying to do my best at Kawasaki and enjoying it too; it’s a lot of hard efforts in the off-season and for me at home. Also, for the team and the schedule, it’s a busy Championship. If you’re not enjoying it, then it’d be the perfect time to step away but when there’s the possibility to win and you’re having fun, I’ll be lining up on the grid for sure.”

WorldSBK Entry List

2022 WorldSBK Calendar

Source: MCNews.com.au

WorldSBK, WorldSSP and WorldSSP300 Entry Lists

In World Superbike we will start the season in Spain with a new champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu. The Turk put in an impressive display of aggressive riding in 2021 to wrestle the crown from Jonathan Rea and this pair will come out swinging once again right from the off on April 8th when the season gets underway at Aragon. Razgatliogli remains at Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK alongside Andrea Locatelli.

Razgatlioglu running with #1 in 2022 means Jonathan Rea has switched back to #65 for the 2022 season at Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK as he looks to reclaim the title and chases a seventh crown. Once again, Rea will be joined by Alex Lowes who will be hoping to bounce back from an injury-hit 2021 season.

Scott Redding has jumped ship from Ducati to BMW, the Brit joins the team alongside Michael van der Mark. It means the team will be on their third different line-up in as many years to compete on the BMW M 1000 RR.

Alvaro Bautista has left Honda and is back on the Ducati V4 R he was previously so successful on and will be alongside Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who will embark on his second campaign with the factory Ducati squad, hoping to add to his three wins from 2022.

At Honda we have two young exiles from the ranks of MotoGP and Moto2 with Iker Lecuona on the new Fireblade alongside fellow Spaniard Xavi Vierge. Will they be able to do something on the Honda that neither Bautista or Haslam could manage…?

BMW have also expanded the number of BMW machines on the grid to four with the Bonovo Action BMW squad, with Eugene Laverty being joined by the returning Loris Baz. Like at BMW, there has been an expansion of the satellite team as MIE Racing Honda Team, with Leandro ‘Tati’ Mercado returning for a second season at the team and Hafizh Syahrin joining the squad.

There will be a new team on the 2022 grid as Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team join the Championship having previously competed in WorldSSP and WorldSSP300. They will run Spanish rider Isaac Viñales in 2022, after he made the switch from Orelac Racing VerdNatura; his place will be taken by Czech rider Oliver König. As well as teams, two riders have made the switch from WorldSSP to WorldSBK. Philipp Oettl joins Team GoEleven for 2022 while Luca Bernardi will become the first rider to compete in WorldSSP300, WorldSSP and WorldSBK when he takes to the grid with Barni Spark Racing Team.

GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team have retained the same line-up for 2022 with Garrett Gerloff returning for his third campaign alongside Kohta Nozane, who enters his sophomore campaign. After an incredible rookie campaign in 2021, Axel Bassani returns with Motocorsa Racing as he looks to build on his single podium finish while Lucas Mahias returns for a second season with Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, while there is one seat still to be announced at TPR Team Pedercini Racing, with the Italian team going down to one bike in 2022.

14 nationalities have been confirmed for 2022, up from 12 on the entry list in 2021. San Marino will be represented for the first time since Alex De Angelis in 2017 when Bernardi takes his spot on the grid. For Malaysia, Syahrin will be the country’s first full-time representative on the grid and the first since Cletus Adi Haslam at Johor in 1993. The 23 riders on the grid will compete for five manufacturers: four will ride BMW bikes and another four on Honda machinery. Yamaha are the manufacturer with the most bikes on the grid in 2022, with six YZF R1 machines while there will be five Ducati Panigale V4 R bikes and five Kawasaki ZX-10RRs.

WorldSBK Entry List

WorldSSP Entry List

There may be no Aussie in the premier category of the road bike based series but there are two that will line-up in World Supersport.

Ben Currie has spent the majority of his racing career within the ranks of British Supersport, where he finished runner-up in 2021, but turns his hand to the World Championship for the first time in 2022.

In the biggest shake-up in the history of the category, organisers will open the class up to 955 cc V-Twins and 765 triples in a quest to broaden the appeal of the category and open it up to more manufacturers.  And it is on one of those twins that Oli Bayliss will make his first foray into Europe aboard.

Ducati have six teams and seven riders in their camp. Nicolo Bulega was the first to join as the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati squad move into WorldSSP, whilst the Barni Racing Team also join the class with aforementioned rookie Oli Bayliss. There’s a host more, including the return of Althea Racing as Genesio Bevilacqua’s team is back with Federico Caricasulo, whilst Davide Guigliano returns as a team manager for the D34G Racing Team with Filippo Fuligni and Federico Fuligni; CM Racing switch to Ducati with Maximillian Kofler, as do the Orelac Racing VerdNatura team with Raffaele De Rosa.

Then, there’s the return of Triumph with the famous PTR squad, run by Simon Buckmaster. Estonian Hannes Soomer will race the Triumph Street Triple 765 and will have ex-Moto2 star Stefano Manzi alongside him. Manzi raced at Jerez in 2021 in WorldSSP and achieved a ninth place, so could achieve great things with a full season and a complete testing programme. Buckmaster’s team have already had experience with the bikes too, as they ran Kyle Smith and American Brandon Paasch in the British Supersport series.

Other motorcycles that have been newly homologated for the category are the MV Agusta F3 800 and the MV Agusta F3 Superveloce and the Suzuki GSX-R750.  Officials will work on parity throughout the season with all the New Generation machines having their engines torque mapped and running a strictly controlled ECU.  While there are no Suzuki entrants as yet, the machine is eligible if fitted with an officially designated set of ride-by-wire throttle bodies that can be controlled by the new standardised Mectronik ECU.

Parity will take into account aspects such as lap time in comparison to other competitors, speed traps, race results and more. This can be changed every three rounds if needed, to equalise performance further and the balance will be weighted to the data collected during the previous six events. The method of balancing will be raise or reduce the power potential of the machine’s engine, with the FIM and the DWO reserving the right to update the balance at their discretion in the case of imbalance.

The initial balance is being calculated after intensive dyno tests with many DWO partners involved. To keep things equal, the tests are all taking place using the Panta control fuel and Motul 300v lubricant. Tests are taking place at RE engineering all overseen by the FIM and Mectronik. Balancing factors may be updated at the end of each season.

he 2022 season in WorldSSP sees new engine regulations come into force. For WorldSSP Next Generation machines, no modifications may be made unless they are stated in the text or in the Eligible Parts for Competition List. With regards to allocation, that will now be calculated by the number of events and rounded to the nearest whole number: 400cc – 600cc machines will have one engine for every 2.5 rounds, 601cc – 799cc with have one engine every three rounds, whilst 800cc and over may have one engine for every 3.5 rounds. Engines may be chosen and impounded for Dyno testing (during events, between events or after the season) at an approved balancing facility and for comparison to the reference engine. Apart from FIM and DWO staff, only one team representative may attend the test.

For 2022, a combined weight limit will be used in WorldSSP, with the minimum bike-rider combined weight being 242kg. In the same way that World Supersport 300 works, there will be a soft maximum weight and a hard minimum weight for the bikes. Should the soft maximum weight be achieved or exceeded, then the combined minimum weight doesn’t need to be reached. The motorcycle on its own must never be below the hard minimum weight; there is no tolerance on this and after the race, the bike and rider will be weighed in racing condition, and nothing may be added.

There’ll be an extra element on tyre usage this year as World Supersport teams will have less to use; in 2021, teams had 17 tyres to use across the weekend. In 2022, they will have 15: seven fronts and eight rears, one less at each end compared to 2021. Pirelli will supply a minimum of two compounds for both the front and rear tyres, with a minimum allocation of six of each compound.

WorldSSP300 Entry List

Harry Khouri is the only Aussie on the World Supersport 300 entry list thus far, check out this recent profile/interview we published with the youngster here.

With both Jeffrey Buis and Adrian Huertas moving up to WorldSSP, MTM Kawasaki have brought in Dutch riders Victor Steeman and Ruben Bijman for 2022 alongside race winner Yuta Okaya, who remains with the team. After running a four-rider line-up in recent years, the team have gone to three bikes for 2022.

The Füsport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki have also reduced the number of bikes they will compete with in 2022, from three to two. With Tom Booth-Amos also moving up to WorldSSP, the team will run Dirk Geiger and Troy Alberto in 2022; Alberto becoming the first rider from the Philippines to compete in WorldSSP300.

There is also a change at AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing in their line-up. While Ton Kawakami returns for another WorldSSP300 campaign with the team, he will be joined by Humberto Maier for this season. The team continues to run an all-Brazilian line-up with their new signing. AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing will run with the Yamaha YZF-R3 bike in 2022 as they have in previous campaigns, where they finished as the highest Yamaha team in the standings.

Leader Team Flembbo have decided to run an all-French line-up in 2022, keeping Samuel Di Sora for another season with the team after his victory in Race 1 at Portimao. He will be joined by compatriot Sylvain Markarian for the upcoming season. SMW Racing will field rookie Davide Conte in the upcoming campaign alongside the experienced Iñigo Iglesias, with Iglesias hoping to add to his podium tally in 2022.

Both Bruno Ieraci and Hugo De Cancellis return to the Championship, racing for the Prodina Racing WorldSSP300 outfit in 2022 as both look to make their mark on the Championship on Kawasaki machinery. As in 2021, there will only be one full-time KTM representative on the grid with Lehmann Lennox joining Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing after a one-off appearance with KTM machinery in 2021 in Barcelona.

In 2022, three riders who competed in the inaugural Yamaha R3 bLU cRU European Cup will take to the WorldSSP300 grid. Iker Garcia was crowned the first ever Cup winner in 2021 and will race with Yamaha MS Racing in 2022, alongside 2017 WorldSSP300 Champion Marc Garcia. Fenton Seabright will be with the Viñales Racing Team for 2022 after claiming third place in the Yamaha R3 European Cup 2021 campaign. The Briton is joined by Italian rider Marco Gaggi for the upcoming campaign. Greece will be represented for the first time in WorldSSP300 when Ioannis Peristeras links up with the ProGP Racing squad, alongside Gabriele Mastroluca, with Peristeras finishing eighth in the 2021 Yamaha R3 European Cup standings.

Kawasaki have won all but the 2017 Manufacturers’ Championship in 2017, with 17 of the 30 bikes on the 22 grid the Kawasaki Ninja 400. Both Alessandro Zanca and Kevin Sabatucci return to the Championship, this time with Kawasaki GP Project. Accolade Smrz Racing will compete with Spanish duo Yeray Saiz and Jose Luis Perez in 2022, running an all-Spanish line-up for the second consecutive campaign. Team #109 Kawasaki expand to two bikes for 2022, retaining the services of Daniel Mogeda who finished the 2021 season with the team and bringing in Harry Khouri.

There will be plenty of Yamaha machines on the grid in 2022, making up 12 of the 30-strong grid for the upcoming season. Team BrCorse will run a two-bike effort in 2022 having recruited British rider Indy Offer for his third campaign in WorldSSP300 to race alongside Mirko Gennai.

Two one-rider squads are running Yamaha machinery in 2022 to round out the entry list. After impressing during one-off outings in 2021, Alvaro Diaz lines up for a full-time campaign with the Arco Motor University Team, as well as Matteo Vannucci for the AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha squad; Vannucci did compete in the Yamaha R3 European Cup in 2021, claiming pole and a podium on his sole outing at Misano.

2022 WorldSBK Calendar

Source: MCNews.com.au