Six-time world champion Rea to retire at end of season

Six-time World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea will retire from competitive motorcycle racing at the end of the 2025 season.

The Yamaha rider will pull down the curtain on his decorated career after the final round of this year's championship in Spain in October.

Northern Irishman Rea, 38, won six successive World Superbike titles between 2015 and 2020 to cement his place as the series' most successful rider of all time.

In his 459 championship races, Rea secured 264 podium finishes, with 119 race wins and 105 best race laps.

"I've been thinking of this day for a long time and finally I've decided to step away from full-time racing and retire," said Yamaha rider Rea.

"This sport has been everything to me. From growing up as a child in Northern Ireland dreaming of racing bikes to standing on the top step of the World Superbike Championship, winning races and world championships."

Rea first burst on to the world superbike stage with Honda in 2008, claiming his first two race wins the following year.

He switched to Kawasaki in 2011, a move which resulted in him breaking every record in the championship.

In 2017, he was recognised for achievements in the sport by being awarded the MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

He also finished runner-up in the 2017 BBC Sports Personality of the Year behind Sir Mo Farah.

After a record-breaking nine-year partnership with Kawasaki, which yielded over a century of race wins, Rea surprisingly signed for Yamaha last season.

However, his quest for a seventh world title ended in disappointment as the Ballyclare rider posted just one podium finish with the team.

Rea endured a difficult 2024 on the bike and this year suffered a serious crash in pre-season testing which has hampered his progress.

When I first met Jonathan Rea, he was just eight years old. He told me: "Watch out for the Rea name. Racing is in our family's blood and I am going to be a world champion."

That may well have been the starry aspiration of youth, but 20 years later Jonathan's dream became a reality - and the memory of that day has endured.

Inspired by Northern Ireland's five-time world champion Joey Dunlop, Rea managed to secure one more than his hero.

His run of six successive world titles make him the country's most successful motorcycle rider, and his partnership with the Kawasaki team is arguably one of the greatest in motorsport history.

On track, Rea - who was also crowned Irish motorcyclist of the year nine times in a row - has always been an extremely fierce and driven competitor. Off it, he is one of the most grounded, humble and articulate sportsmen I have ever met.

Throughout his career, he has granted BBC Sport NI unprecedented access into his life - I feel very fortunate to have been given a front row seat to his remarkable journey.

In the future, he will certainly be much sought after as a test rider and we may even him undertake some endurance racing.

But when he hangs up his competitive leathers, he will do so as one of Northern Ireland's greatest sporting ambassadors.