WSB: Rea: 'History making not my motivation, beating my rivals is!'

Updated: 23 February 2017

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Jonathan Rea has said his motivation for the 2017 Superbike World Championship will come from ‘sticking one over on his rivals’ as opposed to clinching a historic triple world title on the bounce.

The Northern Irishman insists he’s not thinking about the history books as this weekend’s opening round gets underway at Phillip Island, but is keen to show his rivals who is boss as he returns with the number one plate for the second year in a row.

Rea has been the man to beat over the last two seasons and heads in to 2017 with a huge target on his back, but few would bet against him becoming the first rider in history to win three consecutive WSB titles.

“Motivation for me does not come from a possible ‘threepeat’ Rea told MCN’s Gordon Ritchie. “Motivation for me comes from beating my rvials, beating Tom, beating Chaz, Eugene and Melandri.

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“It’s a huge rivalry in your head. It’s not me thinking about money, or a repeat, or history books. It’s about these guys I race against and the things they say that piss me off! That’s where the motivation is; beating your rivals. It’s not even about being world champion as I’ve done that, it’s now about trying to stick one over on my rivals.

“What I know is that it might not be easier to win the championship but it’s certainly going to be easier inside my team with our bike because we aren’t learning something new. Whether that means it is going to be easier to win races and a championship, I highly doubt that! The competition never stands still. I have been the reference for two years and everybody has a lot of motivation to win.”

Read the full interview with Rea in this week’s MCN.

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By Oli Rushby

Former sports reporter covering British Superbikes, World Superbikes and road racing