Jonathan Rea

Born on 2 February 1987 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland

REA LEADS THE WAY TO BACK-TO-BACK TITLES

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) followed up his success in the 2015 FIM Superbike World Championship with a resounding title defence in 2016, becoming the first rider to win back-to-back titles in the series since Carl Fogarty (Ducati) in 1998 and 1999. Despite rolling out a new ZX-10R for the opening round at Phillip Island, Rea stormed to a double win that set an early benchmark for any pretenders to his throne, although his team-mate Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) found some mid-season form that kept the pressure high.

Back-to-back DNFs for Rea in Race 2 at Laguna Seca and Race 1 at Lausitzring were the prelude to the key moment of the season – a wet second race at the German track that saw Rea send another emphatic message to Sykes with a masterful ride to victory in treacherous conditions.

The second half of the season witnessed an incredible run of form for Chaz Davies (Ducati), who took seven wins from the final eight races, but even that wasn’t enough to dislodge either Rea or Sykes, who secured a one-two in the riders’ standings at the final round in Qatar to add to the Manufacturers’ Championship for Kawasaki. Rea, meanwhile, is the first rider ever to win two FIM Superbike World Championship titles for the Japanese factory.