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World Superbike: Johnny Rea takes breakthrough win at Misano

In SBK

23 giugno 2009

Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) had to wait until the second race of the day to take his first win in World Superbike, but it was worth the wait as the young rider from Northern Ireland held off the two factory Ducati machines at their home circuit. It was also Honda’s first win this season in WSB.

The 22-year-old rider could well have had two podium visits today, but because of unseasonable local weather Rea ended up having a very dramatic first race, which was started in wet conditions. The track dried as the race went on, making this the first race ever in WSB history to see new flag-to-flag rules brought into play.

Rea, who had qualified a career best second, was forced to start from the back of the grid and face a ride-through after getting a lift back to the pitlane from Ryuichi Kiyonari (Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) when his machine developed a glitch and stopped on the track, as well as having a dispute with the officials when trying to exit pitlane. He took his ride through after fighting into the leading places in the wet, and then he had to come in once more to change to a machine with a dry set-up, losing more time.

Rea still finished a remarkable seventh, and was the first Honda rider home in race one, despite all his issues. Along with most of his team-mates, Rea has now swapped to Öhlins suspension, which he tested for the first time at Magny-Cours only a few days ago.

In race two Rea was in the mix from the start, and took the lead on lap four, relinquishing it in the latter stages and then probing the defences of Michel Fabrizio before making a decisive pass early in the final lap and holding on for an advantage of 0.063 seconds.

Rea’s team-mate Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) was not too disappointed with 11th in the opener, and was not helped by his machine stalling when changing bikes as the track dried out, an issue that also affected Rea on his changeover. Checa was much more effective in race two, finishing fifth after qualifying on row two. He was only 4.460 seconds from Rea.

Kiyonari was eighth on the grid but he did not finish the first race after a near highside in the damp conditions caused Rea to collide with him, bending his gear change lever. In the second 24-lap race he was14th.

Matthieu Lagrive (Honda Althea CBR1000RR) used all his knowledge of endurance racing to manage his race strategy well in race one and take a top ten. He finished 21st in race two, one place ahead of his qualifying position in his first Superbike race for his team.

Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing Honda CBR1000RR) struggled to 12th and 10th in each race, not feeling as confident in this race as he had in other rounds. John Hopkins (Stiggy Racing Honda CBR1000RR) qualified 26th, but only rode on Friday, due to his still-healing hip injury swelling up. He is expecting to ride with a greater level of fitness at the next round in Donington.

Vittorio Iannuzzo (Squadra Corse Italia Honda CBR1000RR) qualified 27th and finished 20th in race one, 24th in the dry race two.

After yet another dramatic day of racing, Rea consolidated fourth position in the championship on 167 points, with Noriyuki Haga on 292, race one winner Spies on 244 and Fabrizio on 237.

Jonathan Rea: “In race two I got into a good rhythm at the start and when the Ducatis came past I realised they could not clear off, so I settle behind them and found out where they were strong. With five or six laps to go I figured out where I could make some passes, and I got right onto Michel, and it was easy following him. I thought he pace of the race would be faster than it was. We have only had our new suspension for five days. I really want thank the rest of the team because they have worked really well and the motivation of the team is good, so it seems to be that anything that we need to find a way forward we get it. In race one, to start from the back of the grid, have a ride through penalty, stall the bike on the changeover and eventually finished seventh? If I look at the times I did without all the other things happening we would have won race one as well, which is a testament to how hard the team has been working. Donington next and I can’t wait.”

Leon Haslam: "I had an issue with the front end in the first race. I stayed out quite long on the wet tyres, got into fourth position, and then obviously stayed out for too long. When I went into the pit I only had four laps remaining, so I should have returned to pit four or five laps earlier. That was my own mistake. In the second race there was something wrong when the engine kept pushing me in and I kept losing the front. When the engine was good and the electronics were good, the lap times were as quick as anyone, but for seventy percent of the race the engine was just pushing me into the corners, so I really struggled."

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