The 18-year-old Ulster rider had crashed during qualifying and wasn't sure that he would have the necessary freedom of movement to race. However, the teenager from Ballyclare overcame this to power his Dunlop-shod CBR1000RR Fireblade to two very respectable finishes at the 2.3-mile Hampshire circuit in his debut Superbike season.



Jonathan Rea: "I'm over the moon to have finished where I did today. When I woke up this morning, I was aching all over and was unsure about how things were going to go. However, when I tried the Red Bull Honda during warm-up I felt fine and I knew that I was confident enough to race. I would have dearly loved to have finished race one in the points but unfortunately just ran out of laps."


"Race two was a different story though; I made a fantastic start and was up to 19th by the end of the first lap. I then proceeded to pick my way through the pack – which is never easy in a British Superbike race – and was up to 16th by the time the pace car came out. My objective was to get in the points but I kept on going and managed to finish 12th, which I'm delighted about. I'm gaining so much confidence on my CBR1000RR Fireblade and can't wait until the next round at Mallory Park."



Superbike race one result: 1. Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda Racing) 28:05.231; 2. Michael Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) + 9.672; 3. G. Lavilla (Ducati) + 12.111; 4. L.Haslam (Ducati) + 15.791; 5. S.Emmett (Yamaha) + 15.817; 6. K.Harris (Honda-Racing.co.uk) + 17.628; 7. S. Smart (Suzuki) + 18.340; 8. D. Thomas (Kawasaki) + 18.615; 9. G. Richards (Kawasaki) + 25.311; 10. T. Hill (Yamaha) + 32.655; 16. J. Rea (Red Bull Honda) + 51.789


Fastest lap: 0:46.093 – G. Lavilla (lap 14)



Superbike race two result: 1. Ryuichi Kiyonari (HM Plant Honda Racing) 28:45.734; 2. G. Lavilla (Ducati) + 0.444; 3. Michael Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) + 1.298; 4. S. Emmett (Yamaha) + 7.055; 5. G. Richards (Kawasaki) + 8.896; 6. D. Thomas (Kawasaki) + 9.066; 7. L. Haslam (Ducati) + 9.188; 8. K. Harris (Honda) + 10.392; 9. J. McWilliams (Honda) + 21.668; 10. S. Plater (Kawasaki) + 21.833; 12. J. Rea (Red Bull Honda) + 23.456


Fastest lap: G. Lavilla (Ducati) 1:15.577 (New lap record)



Championship points after two rounds: 1. Kiyonari – 100; 2. Lavilla – 72; 3. Rutter – 69; 4. Emmett – 46; 5. Richards – 43; 6. Harris – 38; 7. Haslam – 35; 8. Thomas – 31; 9. Smart – 17; 10=. Reynolds, Hill, McWilliams – 16; 16. Rea (Red Bull Honda) – 7




Misfortune for Laverty


A crash on the second lap of today's Metabo British Supersport Championship meant that Red Bull Honda's Eugene Laverty was unable to benefit from the fantastic promise he had shown during qualifying. In his debut British Supersport Championship year, the 18-year-old from Toomebridge had put his CBR600RR in fifth place on the grid, showing the true value of the Red Bull Honda development programme.



Laverty, who won last year's British 125GP Championship event at this circuit, had been looking forward to showing his potential in today's race. Unfortunately, a collision with Rob Frost caused the teenager to crash and brought hopes of his first British Supersport Championship podium to a premature end. The race was won by Honda rider Leon Camier with Stuart Easton and Jay Vincent completing the podium.



Eugene Laverty: "I'm incredibly frustrated to have crashed out of the race in this way. I've got to hold my hands up and say that it was my fault – I was going faster than I should have been, misjudged my braking marker and had nowhere to go. Unfortunately, I took Rob Frost with me, which is never a good idea. It's no secret how competitive this championship is but I had my hopes pinned on a strong finish. This is one of my favourite circuits and I had qualified well, so I've only got myself to blame. Now, I've just got to focus on the next round at Mallory Park in a fortnight's time."


Race result: 1. L. Camier (Padgetts Honda) 20:55.339 ; 2. S. Easton (Ducati) + 0.476; 3. J. Vincent (Padgetts Honda) + 2.962; 4. C. Jones (Honda) + 17.690; 5. K. Murphy (Honda) + 17.948; 6. J. Robinson (Honda) + 19.589; 7. C. Crutchlow (Honda) + 19.779; 8. P. Riba (Kawasaki) + 20.060; 9. T. Sykes (Suzuki) + 23.418; 10. S. Andrews (Honda) + 23.689; E. Laverty (Red Bull Honda) DNF


Fastest Lap: L. Camier (Honda) – 1:17.580



Championship points after two rounds: 1. J. Vincent – 41; 2. S.Easton – 40; 3. L.Camier – 38; 4. C. Jones – 29; 5=. P. Riba, K. Murphy – 19; 7. J. Robinson – 16; 8=. E. Laverty (Red Bull Honda), P. Young – 10; 10. T. Tunstall – 9







Final lap defeats Jones


The frustration continued for Red Bull Honda's rookie Chris Jones in the British 125GP Championship at Thruxton today following a last lap crash. The incident cost the 14-year-old third place and a podium position that he had battled hard for throughout the 14-lap race.



It was a promising beginning to the race when Jones secured the holeshot, but a false start was declared forcing a re-start. Again, Jones was strong in the early part of the opening lap, powering the Red Bull Honda RS125 into second position.



Having dropped back to third by lap two, Jones then faced a six-way dice to retain the podium place until the closing stages of the race. The Droitwich teenager lost control of the machine with just a short distance to the chequered flag. Although the final positions were taken from the start of the lap, Jones did not make it back to the paddock in time to claim third place – missing out on a points-scoring finish for the second time.



Chris Jones: "I'm really annoyed with myself because I was so close to the finish line. The only thing that I can take away from Thruxton is the fact that my performance throughout the rest of the race was good and I've gained some more experience at a new circuit. Hopefully I can turn things around at Mallory Park in two weeks time."


Race result: 1. C. Elkin (Honda) 19:18.388; 2. K. Coghlan (Honda) +0.068; 3. M. Wilcox (Honda) +11.875; 4. B. Clark (Honda) +12.379; 5. A. Beech (Honda) +12.643; 6. A. Lowes (Honda) +13.421; 7. J. Morris (Honda) +13.658; 8. R. Guiver (Honda) +19.217; 9. J. Webb (Honda) +19.511; 10. J. Pearson (Honda) +9.711; C. Jones (Red Bull Honda) DNF



Championship points after two rounds: 1. Coghlan – 45; 2. Elkin – 38; 3. Clark – 29; 4. Guiver – 28; 5= Webb/Morris/Lowes – 17; 8. Wilcox – 16; 9. Beech – 15; 10. Smith -- 11