Jonathan Rea wants to join HRC Honda, but it seems very unlikely to come true. So, he will be forced to remain in Superbike with Kawasaki. Chuck Aksland, his manager, confirmed the negotiations: “Till Honda Repsol decides who will be their second rider, we’ll keep hoping“. But Alberto Puig already said that it’s not possible.
OUT OF MOTOGP – This is the main reason why it will not happen. Jonathan Rea is a stranger in MotoGP, where negotiations and deals are the result of secret relationships among managers, teams and riders’ managers, directed by Dorna. Now we have a particular situation in MotoGP, as many top riders haven’t found a seat for 2019 yet, and it will very difficult to see Jonathan Rea in MotoGP, despite Aksland working very hard at Le Mans and Mugello. It looks like now Rea can only renew his contract with Kawasaki. Many people would like to see him out of World Superbike, including Dorna, but currently it’s not possible.
VAN DER MARK – About Superbike, the rumpur mill talks more and more insistently about a deal between Michael van der Mark and Kawasaki, since Tom Sykes should go to Yamaha. Also in this case we have some doubts: is Kawasaki really interested in VDM, who dominated at Donington? Or is it a strategy of Michael’s manager to make Yamaha pay him more money?