Jonathan Rea Countdown Diary – Day 9

With the first round of the World Superbike Championship kicking off tomorrow, Britain’s Jonathan Rea has had a busy day getting ready.

Having topped the timesheets at the two day test in Phillip Island last weekend, Rea has made his intentions for the race clear, but maintains he’s not feeling the pressure. 

“Well today was the last day that I’ll get to wake up slowly, because it all kicks off tomorrow. After making my regular trip to the bakery for breakfast I headed to the track to organise my kit for tomorrow.

“I’ve started using the new Arai RX7-GP helmet in testing last weekend and found it really good and a lot quieter. Arai Japan are actually here at the track so I went to see them to make a couple of little changes.

“I’ve actually got a pretty odd shaped head so we played around with the padding to get it fitting exactly right.

“After that I walked the track with my crew chief, which is always useful and it gave us a chance to talk about the bike and make a plan for tomorrow.

“I was invited to the press conference and I got sat in the middle between all the big boys like Haga, Biaggi, Spies and Checa, which was pretty cool.

“I had a team photo shoot to do and then it was the rider briefing. It all starts tomorrow and I’m not one bit nervous, just really excited.

“I’m not feeling the pressure because I’m not in the spotlight. Shakey has obviously been really fast in testing so everyone’s hopes in the UK are with him, which is cool for me.

“We’ve done a lot of laps in testing and are one of the few teams to have done race runs as well as fast laps. I feel ready.”