REA IS THE CHOSEN ONE
Chaps, is our Johnny the greatest ever? ‘I beg to differ. I really like Rea but he hasn’t got the competition to show how good he is’ Jake Dixon
Dean Harrison Yes.
James Whitham You’ve got to go with the stats. Jonathan’s talents are more than just riding a bike: they are working under pressure and making the bike and team work for him.
DH If Rea was simply on the best bike Tom Sykes would be finishing second every week, but he’s not.
Jake Dixon I beg to differ. I really like Rea but he hasn’t got the competition to show how good he is.
DH He can only race who’s out there on track.
JD I go for Foggy because there were so many factory teams on closelymatched bikes it was the best man that won. I loved his aggression, the way he’d ride through a back marker just to win.
JW I’d go for Troy Bayliss.
JD Yeah!
DH He raced in all those different eras and he is still racing in Australian Superbike! He just loves racing.
JD He is no slouch.
DH He does not give a f***.
JD And in 2006 he just turned up and won at the Valencia MotoGP. JW Definitely the hardest World Superbike champion there’s been. I heard a mugger with a knife threatened him in Brazil and Troy just told him to f*** off and walked away. He lost a finger and a bollock in a crash at Donington and still wanted to go out in the second race.
Who’s your favourite WSB rider of all time?
JW Scott Russell: mad, talented and funny as ’owt. He used to get the odd black eye too...
JD Nori Haga, especially when he was riding the Xerox Ducati in 2009. He’d come so close so many times… DH Aaron Slight. I used to play that Castrol Honda superbike game as a kid and I loved Slight. JD S**t.
JW Predictable.
Two ways to make World Superbike as good as it used to be ...
JD Bring in Avaro Bautista, which they have, and get more factory teams involved, which, with BMW back with the new S1000, they are! JW I think it will be good next year, but the three-race weekend is a mistake.
DH For once we’re all agreed.
Do you think new teammates Rea and Haslam can remain friends?
DH No. JW No. JD No. DH I think it will be instant bickering, they’ll do whatever it takes to win.
JD Leon will try everything he can to get into Johnny’s head but Johnny is far too strong and he’ll out-ride him. JW Leon knows he’s on the back foot. But Leon performs best when he’s the underdog. It’s when he’s under pressure that he crumbles.
JW I think Leon will win a race. JD Yes, at Phillip Island.
Top three for 2019?
JD Johnny Rea.
DH But you said Bautista! JD Bautista on the Ducati V4R is going to take it to Jonathan Rea. He’s that good.
DH Bautista knows all the tracks from MotoGP. JD Don’t underestimate how talented he his. He jumped on the factory GP18 when Lorenzo was injured and overtook Dovi, who instantly took him back because he knew it didn’t look good at all.