Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea visited the Motorland Aragon podium for the first time after finishing third in the opening second-round race of the 2014 World Superbike championship in Spain.
It was the 34th World Superbike podium of the 27-year-old British rider’s career after he battled throughout the 17-lap opener to finish behind the Kawasaki machines of Tom Sykes and Loris Baz.
Rea was unable to repeat his podium performance in race two, crossing the line in fifth place after a softer front tyre option left him with a loss of feeling from the front end of his Pata Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade.
His compatriot and team-mate, Leon Haslam, took two top ten placings today, finishing race one in ninth place and coming home eighth in the second 17-lapper, which was also won by Tom Sykes.
Both Pata Honda riders have moved up in the points standings ahead of the team’s home race at Assen in two weeks’ time. Rea holds fifth position with Haslam moving into the top ten in ninth.
Honda's CBR1000RR Fireblade SP enjoyed a double podium celebration at Aragon when Agro-On WIL Racedays Honda rider Kyle Smith finished third in the opening round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup championship.
Jonathan Rea - 3rd 5thIt’s been a really positive weekend for us to go back on the podium this early in the season. It hasn’t really been a trend for us recently so it’s given everyone a bit of a boost. We just really need to build on this. I really enjoy riding the bike at this circuit and we’ve made a lot of improvements since Phillip Island. In race one I ran into some rear tyre problems in the latter stages of the race, but in race two we went with the softer option, which most of the grid changed to. It was working OK but unfortunately we also used the softer front for the higher temperature. I had a few engine brake problems which pushed me into the slower corners and, with the lack of feeling from the front, I felt a bit like a passenger. I had a warning or two around mid-race, so I was kind of nursing it a bit. But we deserved two solid top fives today and I feel we can now take some momentum to Assen where we know the bike is good and build on this at a circuit I really enjoy.
Leon Haslam - 9th 8thWe definitely started here on the back foot and lost a lot of the first session on Friday. From that point we worked really well and I was feeling confident. Just before Superpole yesterday I posted the fourth fastest time and knocked time off in every session, but then I had the crash in Superpole, which wasn’t so good. I struggle in both races though – battling with throttle opening and engine braking. We had a couple of good top ten finishes but, in FP4 yesterday, I really felt I could be challenging for top five today. I’m glad this one is out of the way and we can start to focus on Assen. We’ve made big leaps with the bike in recent testing and, in my opinion, the results don’t show that and we struggled. But Jonathan had a fantastic first race and he was up there in race two. We’ re coming across a few more problems at the moment but we know we’ll get on top of it.
Pieter BreddelsPieter Breddels - technical co-ordinatorIt was a great result for Jonathan in race one, overtaking Giugliano on the last lap to get on the podium. That’s what we’ve been working for all winter so well done to him and the team for that. The track conditions changed for race two and we had some front tyre and other issues, which meant him dropping back to fifth. But overall, it’s been a good weekend for him and we look forward to taking this on to Assen. Leon had a mixed weekend, starting off with some problems but looking good yesterday before his crash. Warm-up didn’t go smoothly for him either. We’re not completely satisfied with ninth and eighth and we still have some things to sort out to get a setting that will get him nearer the front, which we know is where he can be.
Weather SunnyAir 16°CTrack 16°CHumidity 57% Race 1 Results1 Tom Sykes 33m38.583s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team2 Loris Baz +4.275 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team3 Jonathan Rea +8.418 GBR HONDA Pata Honda4 Chaz Davies 15.715 GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team5 Eugene Laverty 19.305 IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki6 Sylvain Guintoli 21.998 FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team7 Toni Elias 24.018 ESP APRILIA Red Devils Roma8 Davide Guigliano 27.894 ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team9 Leon Haslam 29.077 GBR HONDA Pata Honda10 Alex Lowes 29.863 GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki11 Marco Melandri 34.820 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team12 Leon Camier 35.255 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike Team13 David Salom 43.975 ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team14 Jeremy Guarnoni 46.721 FRA KAWASAKI MRS Kawasaki15 Sheridan Morais 56.619 RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK TeamWeather SunnyAir 19°CTrack 32°CHumidity 52% Race 2 Results1 Tom Sykes 33m37.223s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team2 Loris Baz +0.338 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team3 Marco Melandri +0.470 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team4 Sylvain Guintoli +5.429 FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team5 Jonathan Rea +8.861 GBR HONDA Pata Honda6 Eugene Laverty +15.986 IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki7 Davide Guigliano +18.206 ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team8 Leon Haslam +25.513 GBR HONDA Pata Honda9 Toni Elias +25.823 ESP APRILIA Red Devils Roma10 David Salom +38.949 ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team11 Niccolo Canepa +39.413 ITA DUCATI Althea Racing12 Leon Camier +41.486 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike Team13 Sheridan Morais +1m02.587 RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team14 Luca Scassa +1m09.720 ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini15 Fabien Foret +1m14.233 FRA KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India Championship Standings - Round 21 Tom Sykes 75 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team2 Loris Baz 71 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team4 Marco Melandri 49 pts ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team5 Jonathan Rea 48 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda6 Eugene Laverty 46 pts IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki7 Davide Guigliano 43 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team8 Chaz Davies 30 pts GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team9 Leon Haslam 25 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda10 Toni Elias 23 pts ESP APRILIA Red Devils Roma
