Jonathan Rea , son of a well-respected road racer and grandson of one of Joey Dunlop ’ s main sponsors , was in some ways an unlikely candidate to be the greatest ever WorldSBK racer . But here he sits , six FIM Superbike World Championships in his pocket and , at time of interview , neck-and neck in his fight to make it seven in a row this year . We delve into what made Jonathan Rea the rider and man he is now .
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Many times in the past Jonathan Rea has spoken about wanting to be World Champion since he was a small child . Riding around on a mini-bike dreaming of emulating his racer father , Johnny , but wanting to ride short circuits and be world champion . The little kid got his wish , six times , over . But hailing from a country where real roads were the main focus of racing , and separated from racing ’ s epicentre in Europe by not just one body of salt water , but two , it was maybe a big ask . Obviously not , as Rea has overcome all and become a legend , and one he got going , he really got going . Rea explains the realities , in his own words . “ I feel in such a privileged position to be able to have the opportunities I had , because I ’ m not one to bang a sad story drum , but when I look back on how I started , it ’ s an impossible dream or ambition ,” said ‘ JR ’. “ Kids don ’ t get them opportunities that I ended up getting . The odds were against us . Dad worked his ass off , and Mum as well raising us as kids . We didn ’ t have money to throw around on bikes and buy our way into teams . Now the new generation of riders , they have a rich family or uncle or sponsor that bankrolls their career to a certain point and puts them in the spotlight , where I fell on my feet into this lucky situation of the Rookies ’ program back in ’ 03 . Since then , it just sort of worked . The career path that I would have normally lined up from ’ 03 to now wouldn ’ t maybe have been the one I took , but the one I took was fast track . I was on a Superbike after two years of racing . So , it was like an impossible dream . To know what I ’ ve achieved now thinking there ’ s me and my dad in the back of a van with a textile crate upturned and a mattress on top of it and bikes underneath it . Him leaving the distribution company at 5pm on a Friday and driving all through the night to Cheshire or Kent or wherever it may be to do ( junior ) motocross . Now I ’ ve got my own kids and realise how much effort that takes . I ’ ve been so blessed and fortunate to have my dad and mum do that for me .” Once an outsider from Northern Ireland , Rea ’ s talent and belief have put him at the very top of the biggest thing in production-derived racing . As he said from the WorldSBK paddock in Navarra , “ This now feels really normal to me but then if I put myself in the position of a BSB kid in ’ 07 , running around Brands Hatch thinking about loving to go to the Ten Kate team or meeting with Davide Tardozzi at Ducati , talking about Troy Bayliss ’ s ride for the future . You ’ re thinking , that seems ‘ impossible .’ Now it ’ s normal for me to go and grab some dessert at Ducati . It ’ s just normalised . Looking back , it seems impossible but now it ’ s almost normal .” It may have been an impossible dream made possible , through much hard work from all concerned , but Rea knows the answer to the question of whether it was more difficult for him to - literally - get there than if he had been from the middle of England . Doing it from Norther Ireland at the start was just more challenging , and more expensive . “ I think it ’ s much more difficult because motorsport is such an expensive sport ,” said Rea . “ When I got into bikes , you ’ d go to the racetrack and you quickly understood the kids that arrived with their big motorhomes and trailer that it was daddy ’ s dream as well as son ’ s dream . I was one of them to break my dad ’ s nuts that we had to go practice in the rain . He didn ’ t want to wash bikes , but I
was like , I want to ride , I want to ride . So , we borrowed road race bikes . Alan Patterson ’ s 125 to start riding on and go to some selection days . Dad , even though he was a racer himself , he didn ’ t have huge mechanical experience about 125s . He always had help with his bikes . Say you ’ re from the top north of Scotland . Nothing goes on there . Northern Ireland is the same . If you want to be a big deal , you ’ ve got to travel . You ’ ve got to go and race at Brands Hatch . Larne to Cairnryan ferry ( Northern Ireland to Scotland ) at stupid o ’ clock and a ten-hour drive . So , if you have a bad result , that ’ s going to sit with you for ten hours driving home with your parents . If you ’ re ‘ in ’ and you ’ re going to make it work , you were all in . It was hard work . It was just a wee bit more comfortable for a lot of the English kids because they were committing a couple hours to race . They ’ ll all have their sad stories and how they got there , or dark stories , but I just feel like it ’ s hardened into coming from Norther Ireland . I think that ’ s why a lot of the British Superbike paddock , a lot of Northern Irish kids are doing really well . You draw a line
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