‘Not the end we dreamed of’ – crash ruins Rea finale

Finishing it in the gravel trap wasn’t the ending Jonathan Rea wanted, in a career that earned 119 victories, 264 podium finishes, and six World Superbike Championship titles.

The Northern Ireland rider was planning to end his glittering 17-year career at Sunday’s Jerez final race of the season.

However, it came to an abrupt conclusion when Rea was denied a second start in the Superpole race for a knee injury sustained during a first-lap collision.

There were “mixed emotions” in the 38-year-old’s words, “I’m very grateful that I’ve had the career that I’ve had” but not the end we all hoped for.

Being excluded from the season finale was a cruel way to leave the sport, as well as putting an end to a challenging two-year relationship with Yamaha, which he had called “stressful” and “struggle,” and which was a step up from the six titles won by Kawasaki between 2015 and 2020.

Rea told BBC Sport NI’s Stephen Watson in Spain, “I was frustrated to go down, and to be ruled out of my last race isn’t how I wanted to write the story’s conclusion.”

“I need to be very content, too.” I’m happy to close the chapter.

Rea, who also ended Saturday’s opening race in the gravel at Jerez, had a second crash of the weekend.

On the first lap of his motorcycle, he and Australian Remy Gardner collided, sending both riders into the gravel trap. Rea was taken away from his torn bike on a stretcher when the collision occurred on Sunday morning.

He claimed that early signs of knee ligament damage showed up while he was walking in the paddock.

Rea added that his team manager and wife Tatia, who had frequently been by his side with their sons Jake and Tyler, made him feel bad when he learned he would no longer be able to race one last time.

He continued, “It’s tough in one way because it’s not how you imagined you finished.”

You are not able to choose how that ends, as every story does, though.

Rea’s World Superbike career’s final two years could not have been more different from the unheard success he had during his golden era, when he broke records after records to become the most decorated rider in the championship.

However, he compared Valentino Rossi, the legend of motorcycle racing, who won six titles in the top class before his retirement in 2021, to his cherished memories.

Rea, who started out with Honda in 2008, continued, “This is just a small chapter in a big book that we’ve written.”

“The great Valentino Rossi, I can’t recall how his final season, let alone his final race, went. I hope that’s how I’ll be remembered.

I went down fighting, and I hope people still are inspired by that statement. I’m certain that I will leave my career feeling content with what I did and that I will never have any regrets.

Rea hobbled into his box in the pits while his team waved a “Thank you JR” banner, and then received a special helmet to mark his professional career.

We’re proud of what he has accomplished, but we’re more proud of who he is, according to his father Johnny, a successful motorcycle racer himself in the 1980s.

Toprak Razgatlioglu won his third World Superbike title in Jerez, beating Nicolo Bulega in the final race, in a dramatic manner.

The BMW rider, who won the championship in 2021 and 2024, had a sizable 39-point lead over Bulega from Ducati at the weekend.

Although Bulega won the Superpole sprint race on Saturday in front of Razgatlioglu, that margin decreased as a result.

Rea and Gardner had made eye contact with the riders’ leaders on the opening lap, but Bulega made a gaping pass and the defending champion slid into the gravel.

Although Bulega received a long-lap penalty for the incident, he still had enough speed to win the sprint race and cut Razgatlioglu’s lead to 22 points.

All eyes were on Razgatlioglu, who needed to finish 13th or higher to claim the title, after the 26-year-old Italian rider controlled the main race to claim the title.

In the end, the 29-year-old raced from 10th to third place to celebrate his final World Superbike victory before joining Yamaha for MotoGP in 2026.

“We had a fantastic season,” he said. Everyone, my team, everyone worked so hard, thank you very much, Razgatlioglu said to TNT Sports.