Rea climbs to Aragon podium

Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea visited the Motorland Aragon podium for the first time after finishing third in today’s 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 today when Agro-On WIL Racedays Honda rider Kyle Smith finished third in the opening round of the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup championship.

Jonny Rea :

It’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 : 

We 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.

© 2014 Pata Honda.