Disappointment for Pata Honda in Monza
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01/01/1970
The Pata Honda World Superbike team endured a difficult fourth-round event at the Autodromo Nationale di Monza in Italy today with only a handful of points to show after some positive development steps with the CBR1000RR Fireblade.
In race one at the historic 5.777km circuit just north of Milan, Jonathan Rea enjoyed a superb start from the second row of the grid but, on the second lap, a missed gear on the exit of Monza’s infamous first chicane dropped him down the order.
In a bid to get back on terms, the 26-year-old from Northern Ireland ran on at the same corner eight laps later and clipped a safety bale, for which he was awarded a penalty and ordered to drop two places. Rea made those two places back over the last three laps to finish eighth at the flag.
In race two, clutch problems forced his retirement early in the race as his stand-in team-mate, Kosuke Akiyoshi, who earlier finished 14th in race one, crashed out unhurt at turn eight.
Jonathan Rea – 8th and DNF
It’s been a tough day and I don’t feel like we got what we deserved today. It was clear I had pace all weekend but, unfortunately, in a race situation, while I had pace by myself, when I tried to capitalise on my strengths in the race, I couldn’t run the same corner speed. It made it difficult to pass people and that was upsetting my already good entry speed by braking too late. So in race one I learned a lot but in race two, again I made a good start, but straight away I had some problem with the bike. I thought maybe I should adjust the clutch but, to be honest, the guys are still looking into it and investigating because I don’t think that’s the only problem. It’s hard to say we can leave here with our heads held high. When I’m on my own I’m actually enjoying riding the bike and we’ve made massive gains, but it’s hard to stomach an eighth place from a weekend. But, we move on to Donington – I’ll try and keep my head up and remain positive like the rest of the guys and hopefully come back stronger.
Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator
In race one Akiyoshi-san got into the points with 14th and Jonathan got eighth after missing a chicane and not returning to the track in the correct way. He had to drop two places and fight back so eight was the maximum. We didn’t have a lot of luck in race two either, with Akiyoshi-san crashing out of the race and Jonathan had some technical problems with the bike. All in all it’s been a weekend to forget for the Superbikes, however, I would like to say a big thank you to Akiyoshi-san for replacing Leon Haslam at such short notice. His feedback has been very accurate and useful and I hope we can work together again. But, for now, we’re happy to pack up and head for Donington!
2012 World Superbike championship, round four
Autodromo National di Monza, Italy – 5.777km, 18 laps
Race 1 result:
1 Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW
2 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki
3 Eugene Laverty (IRL) Aprilia
4 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Aprilia
5 Chaz Davies (GBR) BMW
6 Michael Fabrizio (ITA) Aprilia
8 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Pata Honda
14 Kosuke Akiyoshi (JPN) Pata Honda
Race 2 result:
1 Eugene Laverty (IRL) Aprilia
2 Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW
3 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki
4 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Aprilia
5 Michael Fabrizio (ITA) Aprilia
6 Davide Giugliano
Championship points after 4 of 15 rounds:
1 Guintoli 137, 2 Laverty 124, 3 Sykes 119, 4 Melandri 96, 5 Davies 94, 6 Baz 75, 7 Fabrizio 74, Rea 71 (15 Leon Haslam (GBR) Pata Honda 29)
Next round: Donington Park, UK – 24-26 May
