Rea: ‘I saw my last chance to win with Kawasaki’ at Portimao

The six-time WorldSBK champion was in the midst of his best run of results this season prior to Sunday’s double-header at Portimao.

A third place finish in Race 1 was his ninth podium in ten races, a run which included a first victory of the season at Most.

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But Rea saw his hopes of continuing that run end in the Superpole Race after crashing out at turn five.

Rea attempted to go down the inside of future teammate Andrea Locatelli before losing the front-end of his machine.

Eager to make up for his earlier mistake, Rea then made another costly error in Race 2 as he was at fault for causing a collision with Xavi Vierge and Scott Redding.

With Vierge crashing out as a result, Rea was given a Long Lap penalty on a day where he felt as though so much more was possible.

"A day to forget," said Rea. "Two big mistakes, with the first one being in the Superpole Race. 

"I committed to pass Andrea but he was closing, so in order to not put him at risk, I entered the corner a little bit faster, touched the kerb and that was the end of my race. 

"It had a huge knock-on effect for Race 2 then, starting from P10. I arrived at Turn 3 alongside Bassani, got squeezed and ran out of track a bit too fast. 

"I was on the front brake, the rear brake, trying to slow down, but then I hit Xavi Vierge. I saw him straight after the race to try and apologise because I destroyed his race. 

"Also Scott Redding as well. I made a f****g mistake in the Superpole Race but I saw today as a chance to win my last race with Kawasaki. 

"I don’t feel like at Jerez we have a chance. I was so pumped for the race and wanted to make it happen, but it wasn’t to be."