Jonathan Rea finished second to Toprak Razgatlioglu in all three excellent WorldSBK races at Magny Cours, before he got the Superpole win because Razgatlioglu had strayed onto the green track limits painted area on the last lap.

Speaking before all this came to light publicly, after KRT protested Razgatlioglu’s error, Rea said he had enjoyed the fight with Razgatlioglu in all races, and especially the Superpole race because they were closer for longer, right up to the final chicane.

“It was quite fun, to be honest,” said Rea. “For 10 laps, it seemed like we were just having some issues as soon as the grip of the tyre drops to stop the bike. When the tyre is fresh - and for 10 laps - I felt quite confident, quite good. So, I knew if I was going out I would have a solid chance to get a race win it would be the Superpole race.”

In the end he would win it, but not in the way anybody envisaged.

A video came out on one news site purporting to show Rea asking his crew chief in Parc Fermé to ask the team manager to check if Razgatlioglu had strayed onto the green (the sound quality is iffy at best, so jury is out exactly what was said until he broke away and asked for something to be checked) and the Team Manager himself, Guim Roda, said that someone in the team thought Razgatlioglu had run out of the track limits and then set about checking if that was true or not.

He also flagged up that their 300 rider, Ana Carrasco, was taken off track onto the green paint earlier in the year and penalised, and was just told ‘rules are rules’.

The Kawasaki protest was upheld - the tiny and basically meaningless infringement clear on a video still image disseminated by the organisers. Razgatlioglu took the winner’s trophy down to Kawasaki himself to hand it over personally.

The whole episode left a bad taste after what had been a brilliant weekend of fighting and on-track competition, and lost Razgatlioglu his first ‘triple’. The most controversial and twittered topic of the year so far.

Before the official review and notification had been completed, Rea had praised his rival.

“Yesterday, to be fair, his pace in the end was relentless,” Rea stated. “He could just keep knocking out lap times, where, as soon as the grip drops a little bit in the half-distance, I was just struggling to haul it today.

“We made some big setup changes, so massive kudos to the guys in the garage, because we never gave up. Not that we kept thinking, tomorrow we can win, but we just wanted to keep improving the bike and try to make a step.

“We seen in the cooler conditions I could use the SC1 tyre, but as soon as the temperature comes up I don’t feel safe with that tyre. It just moves too much for my riding style. I feel like our bike lowers the front a lot and I need that extra stability that the 508 brings. So, compromised some turning.

“To be fair, when I was riding with them in the beginning I felt better. We were just so over-geared for our bike, exit the first-gear corners, especially second here from the chicane and the first two corners. I was losing too many meters.

“The real fast stuff where I just felt like I was being brave, there’s only so far you can be brave before you start having some warnings. I had a warning about six, seven, eight to go at T8. I had a big front slide. So, at the moment, it was time to consolidate. I could feel my team manager on my shoulder! I just sort of gave up the fight and consolidated my position.

“But massive congratulations to him (Toprak). He’s really making me ride on my limit, up my game, look for some answers inside the box, push the guys to be better. That’s good. I feel like myself and Alex [Lowes] now just as riders are trying to help each other, trying to bring our comments together to take the bike forward. It’s clear that we really need to make a step if we’re going to fight with the other manufacturers.”

The big deal for Rea and Lowes, and everybody in Kawasaki was losing their expected revs to the pre-season rulebook that said the ‘new’ engine they had been working with all winter could not have the 500-600 extra revs they were expecting. Does the lack of them make a difference, would it make a difference, for Rea?

“Of course,” he admitted, “I don't know how different, but of course it makes a difference. It makes a difference when you ride all winter test. It’s like giving a kid some sweets and then taking them away. With 500-600 RPM you can run much shorter ratios, accelerate better, stop better. It’s not the be-all and end-all. We can obviously improve our bike in other areas, but this is World Superbike. Nobody is slow. The top five guys are so fast, so every little helps.

"You can’t just magically find something. You need all the package to work. But that’s, right now, the crucial area for us to improve.”