SBK | Rea forced to skip Cremona, Canepa on his Yamaha

The Cremona round of the Superbike World Championship risks having to do without the three main protagonists of the last decade of the world series reserved for production bikes. The certainty is that the debut on the Lombard track will not see the SBK record-breaking man, Jonathan Rea, at the start.

The six-time world champion fell during the early stages of Race 1 at Magny-Cours and suffered a bad injury to his right thumb, for which he also underwent surgery, with recovery times initially estimated at 2-3 weeks. Today, however, the Yamaha rider confirmed that he will not be able to take part in the match, because the doctors have advised him to rest further if he wants to recover 100% and avoid any complications.

“I’m sorry to have to miss this Round in Cremona. After speaking to Dr. Antonie Martens who operated on me in France and Dr. Michael McBride who is following me at home in Belfast, they both reiterated that the tendon and skin graft on my right thumb needed a little more time to heal and to avoid any problems. I’m doing everything I need at home to get back to 100% as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone who is supporting me in this difficult time”, explained Johnny in a post published on Instagram.

The official team of the Iwata manufacturer will therefore be entirely in Italian colours, because alongside Andrea Locatelli there will be Niccolò Canepa, who will take Rea’s place on the R1 a few days after the third place in the Bol d’Or which earned him and his teammates Karel Hanika and Marvin Fritz the role of vice-world champions in Endurance.

The 36-year-old, who has been a test rider for Yamaha for a few years, took part in 79 races in the Superbike World Championship between 2008 and 2018, obtaining two seventh places as his best results. But in this paddock he is best known for winning the Superstock 1000 title in 2007. Above all, however, the curious thing is that it will be a grand finale for his career, given that the Genoese rider had already announced his retirement at the end of the season.

“A bit of a surprise news since I announced my retirement just a couple of weeks ago! But honestly, I’m really proud to race another weekend, especially with this team, Pata Prometeon Yamaha, Crescent and to ride the official Yamaha R1 in WorldSBK with this team. I’m really sorry for what happened to Jonathan and I wish him a speedy recovery. On the other hand, I’m grateful to Yamaha for this opportunity. It’s always nice to race with Yamaha and with this team in WorldSBK”, said Canepa.

“Cremona is a track I don’t know well, I’ve only done a few laps with the Yamaha R7 for the WorldWCR shakedown and I know it’s going to be a difficult weekend in terms of performance. For my work as a test rider for WorldSBK, we might have something to try and if I can give some feedback to help the other Yamaha riders on track, then it would be ‘mission accomplished’. I’m really happy and I can’t wait to experience my ‘very last’ weekend of my career, so we’ll see what we can do!”, he added.

Rea’s withdrawal is now certain, it remains to be seen what will happen to the other two big names, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista. The current world championship leader was the protagonist of a very bad accident on Friday at Magny-Cours, crashing into a barrier with an impact that caused him a pneumothorax, which forced him to give up the rest of the French weekend and still keeps him in doubt for the one in Cremona, at least according to the latest bulletin released a few days ago by BMW.

The reigning world champion instead fell in the early stages of the Superpole Race of the French round, causing a fracture of the eighth rib. Therefore, for him too, there was a double zero at Magny-Cours after the second place in the race on Saturday and it remains to be seen whether he will have the doctors’ approval to get back on his Ducati in Cremona or not. The absence of Dominique Aegerter, who has not yet recovered from an injury suffered in training, is already certain. The curious thing is that on the Yamaha of Team GRT in his place there will be one of Canepa’s teammates in the EWC, namely Fritz.