Pata Honda Press Release:
Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea took victory in a shortened, wet second race in round eight of the 2014 World Superbike championship at the Autodromo Internacional Algarve in Portugal today.
The 27-year-old British rider was never headed in the race, which was reduced from a scheduled 20 to 18 laps after rain fell on the 4.592km Portimao circuit. At mid-race, Rea saw a comfortable lead reduced by the two factory Aprilias but they both crashed out on lap 13, leaving the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP rider to cruise home almost seven seconds ahead of Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies.
The win marked Rea’s eighth podium at Portimao in the seven years that SBK has been visiting the circuit, but it was his first victory here. It followed a fifth place in the first 20-lap race, won by Tom Sykes, in which Rea was badly affected by low rear grip after leading on the opening laps.
His Pata Honda team-mate Leon Haslam finished fifth in the wet race two, after a strong challenge for the final podium position faded in the closing two laps. The 31-year-old was taken out of race one by another rider but remounted to finish in 11th place at the flag.
There is a quick turnaround for the World Superbike championship, which reassembles next weekend for round nine at the Laguna Seca Raceway in California, USA before an eight-week summer break.
Jonathan Rea #65
- 5th and 1st
I was really disappointed after race one because we had good pace in warm-up this morning; but I’m not sure if it was the tire or not because we had changed nothing on the bike. When I heard the rain coming on my motorhome roof as I watched a bit of the Tour de France ahead of race two, I started getting a little bit giddy and singing as I was getting changed. I knew that it was a chance for me. I tried to do my own race from the front but I saw from my lap board that the Aprilias had better pace at the middle point of the race. The track had started to dry out a bit and we were really suffering with corner exit but, although the conditions were a great leveler for all riders, it’s nice to take a win. I’d prefer to take it in the dry and we can’t get too excited because it’s a wet win; but we’ll take them any way we can and it’s 25 points not just for me but for the whole team. They’re consistently working so, so hard to bring the package to the front, and they gave me a really great, user-friendly CBR to ride today, so I’m really happy for them.
Leon Haslam
- 11th and 5th
It’s been a frustrating weekend because we’ve made some progress but we were able to translate that into results today. I had a problem on the qualifying tire in Superpole and that left me in ninth place on the grid which wasn’t ideal. I was going OK in race one but Chaz [Davies] cut back across the line after he ran wide in turn five and that was the race done really. In the wet, I felt I could challenge for a podium in the middle part of the race but it didn’t work out that way and I think that fifth was not a good reward for the effort we’ve put in here.
Pieter Breddels- Technical Co-Ordinator:
Jonathan took the lead at the start of race one but immediately his grip dropped and he finished fifth, which was a bit disappointing. I think that with a better tire he could have been on the podium. He had a start-to-finish win in race two and he rode really strong. Unfortunately for them, the Aprilias retired but we gained some points back on the championship leaders so we’ll just keep chipping away. Leon had some bad luck in race one when another rider caused him to crash but he fought back for some points. He was fighting for third in the second race but had to let it go and he finished fifth. But it has been his strongest weekend with us so far and we’ve found a way up in the wet and the dry so we’re looking forward to Laguna.
Race 1 Results:
1 Tom Sykes 34m45.568s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Sylvain Guintoli +2.539s FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
3 Loris Baz +3.175s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Marco Melandri +4.042s ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
5 Jonathan Rea +7.791s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
6 Alex Lowes +14.772s GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
7 Davide Guigliano +14.877s ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
8 Eugene Laverty +14.941s IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
9 David Salom +26.018s ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
10 Sylvain Barrier +26.032s FRA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike Team
11 Leon Haslam +33.041s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
Race 2 Results:
1 Jonathan Rea 34m55.154s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
2 Davide Guigliano +6.817s ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
3 Chaz Davies +8.676s GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
4 Alex Lowes +9.740s GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
5 Leon Haslam +11.289s GBR HONDA Pata Honda
6 Loris Baz +11.808s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
7 Sylvain Guintoli +14.169s FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
8 Tom Sykes +17.164s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
9 Eugene Laverty +26.406s IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
10 Toni Elias +30.168s ESP APRILIA Red Devils Roma
Championship Standings:
1 Tom Sykes 284 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Sylvain Guintoli 241 pts FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
3 Loris Baz 236 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Jonathan Rea 235 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
5 Luca Scassa 192 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
6 Chaz Davies 159 pts GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
7 Davide Guigliano 140 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
8 Eugene Laverty 121 pts IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
9 Toni Elias 115 pts ESP APRILIA Red Devils Roma
10 Leon Haslam 115 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
For more information: www.patahonda.com
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