World Superbikes: Rea crashes in testing ahead of Philip Island opener

Jonathan Rea came off his new Yamaha machine in testing yesterday, ahead of the opening round of the new World Superbike season.

Following assessment in the medical centre on-site at the Philip Island rack in Australia, the 37-year-old - who won six World Superbike titles in a row - says he's fine and ready for action this weekend.

But, he admits says there's still work to do.

“It’s been a difficult day – I feel comfortable on the R1, but really pushing on the limit and understanding how to push the bike to the maximum is still coming," he says.

"The outright pace at the front is incredibly fast, so when you go chasing that ultimate lap time, it can feel a million miles away but to be honest, the rhythm for me is not actually too far when we put everything together.

"Step-by-step, the plan is to just work with the guys over the next couple of days to understand how to ride the R1 in the best way possible around here and also get the set-up a bit closer to what I need, and I believe we will be more competitive come the weekend.

"I have a lot of bruising from the crash early this afternoon, but we have a few days rest now before Friday and I expect by the weekend I will be 100%.”

Pata Prometeon Yamaha Team Principal Paul Denning added: "For Jonathan, we had a couple of technical issues which hindered the test programme in the morning. Sometimes when things aren’t going smoothly, the world has a way of making things more challenging – and a Turn 11 high-side didn’t make things any easier.

"JR is a fighter and did very well to get back to the bike and keep working, even if the laps he did were very limited this afternoon. Ultimately, we are thankful that his injuries were not any worse and that he will be able to compete at the weekend.

"We now have two days for him to repair and recover as much as possible and for us to find some solutions so that JR can use all of his undoubted speed and talent.”