The World Superbikes came to Donington Park on March 25–27, and Tatia Weston was behind the scenes with Jonathan Rea to give us a different view of the Castrol Honda man’s weekend…
Civic reception
JR’s race weekend started on the Isle of Man at 6.30am on the Wednesday before Donington. With the Honda Civic packed to the gills with bags of British goodies not available abroad to last the European season, we caught the ferry from the island’s port capital Douglas to the UK mainland, the shortest travel route all season.
It’s a shoe-in
By Wednesday afternoon, we’d unpacked and settled into the motorhome, also known as the ‘Fun Bus’, the home away from home, and motorhome driver Kev had given JR a gift from the obsessive-compulsive shop this weekend – a waterproof, covered shoe rack. This went down a treat with JR, who is famous for his OCD tendencies and his saying, “Come in, but take your shoes off and line them straight outside the door.”
Tatia Weston
Toast to success
JR’s ritual on race-day morning changes from race to race depending on his qualifying position, his pace over the past few days and how he’s feeling with his bike set-up. However, he is a creature of habit and has to have the same breakfast of either oats and golden syrup or toast with peanut butter (crunchy) and raspberry jam. The Fun Bus has to be spick and span with all his kit lined up ready to go – back protector, undersuits, boots, leathers and helmets. With his favourite tune on at full volume, it’s a quick blast on the turbo machine to warm up, followed by a crowd-dodging ride on the paddock scooter up to the pits, and he’s ready to go!
Temperature tantrums
JR took fifth and sixth places on board his Castrol Honda CBR1000RR in the two races. It was not all smooth sailing, though, as temperate weather conditions ranging from a blistering 17 to a chilly six degrees had played havoc all weekend with tyres, bike set-up and sock choices! Racing and qualifying were abnormally cold, making it very difficult to find a tyre choice with decent grip. The timing sheets confirmed this as JR went from third in the first session to 16th on Friday afternoon, to first on Saturday morning and finally eighth place on the grid in qualifying for Sunday’s two 23-lap races!
Hit the deck
The strange thing about the hype and buzz of a race weekend is that there’s always a bang back to reality. Ours ended with us catching the ferry from Heysham back to Douglas, a journey which JR spent curled up on the boat floor with his hoodie covering his face, trying to get a few hours’ kip. I’m sure the other passengers had no idea the guy lying on the floor had been racing at speeds of 270kph just hours before! Although a racer’s mentality is always to win at any cost, sometimes a steady fifth and a sixth when things are not working in your favour are as good as it gets. This part of the season is about walking away with solid points and moving on to the next round with a better package. The next race will be in Assen, where last year JR had pole position, fastest lap and a double race win. See you there!
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