On Track Off Road No. 196

WorldSBK
For all the promise at Honda, the
mystery of Yamaha, the growing
potential of BMW and the strong
personalities now a factor with the works
Ducatis, it is still the world championship
winning Kawasaki Racing Team that carry
the strongest narratives into the 2020
season of WorldSBK.
There was a showbiz element of their
‘talk show’ format for the 2020 Team
presentation, well within an audible
throttle blip of the Circuit de Barcelona-
Catalunya pitlane. The KRT workshop
had been transformed into a stage where
much was made of the crew’s first ‘home’
event – due to take place at the track
in September and where, unbelievably,
they’d tested for the first time in their existence
a few days previously – but also
where questions were centred around the
adventures ahead for 33 year old Jonathan
Rea and 29 year old incoming newbie
Alex Lowes.
“I HAVE NEVER LOWERED MY
MOTIVATION AND I LIKE TO SET
TARGETS. I GUESS I AM ADDICTED
TO THE BIG W. THE UNIT I HAVE
AROUND ME WORKS SO WELL:
I WALK AWAY, COME BACK AND
ALWAYS FIND A BETTER BIKE.”
Lowes gave-off a confident air. The former
Yamaha man may be holding a
heavy chalice as teammate to the fivetimes
#1 and assuming a role that frustrated
both Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam
but was clearly relishing the competitive
environment, equipment and atmosphere
that proved so effective for Rea from day
one of joining the Catalan set-up in 2015.
As for the champion, Rea once again
props himself up as the largest target on
the range and prepares for another season
of arrows from competitors, critics,
fans and neutral followers of the sport
that would like to see a changing of the
green guard. Rea was pelted by Ducati
and Alvaro Bautista in 2019 but somehow
found a way to reverse his predicament
and profit from the wavering aim