Long years of struggle helped me net historic feat: Rea

TRYING to keep up with Jonathan Rea in the past 48 hours gives us all an inkling how the chasing pack in the World Superbike ranks must feel.

The three-time World champion returned home to a hero’s welcome at George Best City Airport in Belfast on Sunday night after a weekend when he completed a hat-trick of titles at Magny-Cours in France.

Last night the local hero was in his hometown of Ballyclare as guest of Councillor Paul Hamill, the Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, for another reception and much more autograph signing.

And in between these two dates he also met the media, and members of the Northern Ireland football team, at the Culloden Hotel, where Michael O’Neill’s men are preparing to lock horns with World champions Germany on Thursday evening.

Well, if they need a few tips about beating the world’s best, then no finer man than the 30-year-old who became the first rider ever to win three titles on the bounce, notching up his 50th WSB win in the process.

Having finally caught up with Rea, I wanted to find out a bit more about his life in the fast lane, so I began by asking him if he had any ambitions left in the sport.

“To be honest, no,” he revealed. “I’ve achieved three championships in a row, that has never been done before and it doesn’t get much better than that.

“For me now the only way is down, but for sure I’ll be trying my hardest to win a fourth championship. When the new regulations come in next year it will be an exciting time developing the new bike and as it is into an unknown area it will be harder than ever to stay at the front.

“I’m under no illusions about that, so this is my time and I aim to make the most of it. Who knows, maybe next year it will be someone else.

“I’ve been on the other side when the results weren’t coming because I had been on uncompetitive machines and you know what, that made me.

“Journalists always ask me should I have left Honda earlier and my answer is always no, simply because what I learned in those years prepared me for what I have now.”

So, having experienced the ups and downs of the sport, does being World champion make things a little bit easier?

“If anything, things are harder now with Tatia (his wife) and the two boys (Jake and Tyler),” he responded.

“What you see on Sunday is glamorous and nice, but it is like everybody else getting through airports with two young kids when you can’t plan when they are tired.

“We kind of try to see more of the countries we are in, be more relaxed and take a bit of time Down time: Jonathan Rea catches his breath at the Culloden Hotel (above) after his World title success on Saturday in France (left) and then a stop-off for a civic reception in Ballyclare last night

so it’s not just flying in for the race and out after it’s over.

“I travelled the world with Keith Amor and had a really fun time in my early WSB years, even going to Australia three or four weeks before the race.

“I spent some time in South Africa and met a lot of amazing people, but eventually constant travel becomes hard work.”

And unlike the pampered players of the Premier League or the multi-millionaires of the Grand Prix circuit, Rea’s success has been built on very humble foundations.

“In my late teens I left home early to ‘sofa surf’ between mechanics’ and friends’ houses; it was too costly to travel back and forth to home (Ballyclare),” he recalled.

“I lived with the late Craig Jones and with my personal trainer and friends in the south