Rea lived up to his nickname as he stormed into the top 20 at the beginning of the 25-lap first race, which had been restarted due to an incident involving championship leader Ryuichi Kiyonari. The Red Bull Honda rider battled with Jon Kirkham for the majority of the race before passing his adversary and James Buckingham in the closing stages. Two championship points were his reward for 14th position.



Showing remarkable consistency on his immaculately prepared Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, Rea doubled his points tally for the day in the second race. Eventually held over 12 laps at the third time of asking, the ‘sprint’ saw the Northern Irish teenager maintain his impressive, hard-charging form. His ultimate reward was 17th position overall in the points table for the highly competitive 13-round series, which resumes at Oulton Park next weekend.



Jonathan Rea: “I enjoyed the first race battle with Kirkham. It was good to get the better of him eventually. He unsettled me a bit at first, but I got into a good rhythm and took my chance when it came along. The second race was more of the same and I’m happy to have taken four points today considering my qualifying position. Overall I’m really pleased with my lap times. I’ll be aiming to qualify better next weekend at Oulton Park, because I feel that I can run comfortably higher up the field.”



Superbike race one result: 1. M. Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) 21:48.024; 2. G. Richards (Kawasaki) +6.706; 3. L. Haslam (Ducati) +10.354; 4. S. Emmett (Yamaha) +11.299; 5. S. Smart (Suzuki) +13.465; 6. D. Thomas (Kawasaki) +17.638; 7. M. Laverty (Honda) +18.015; 8. G. Mason (Honda) +21.170; 9. D. Beaumont (Honda) +23.640; 10. S. Brogan (Honda) +30.548; 14. J. Rea (Red Bull Honda) +33.896


Fastest lap: 51.590 – M. Rutter (lap 3) new lap record



Superbike race two result: 1. M. Rutter (HM Plant Honda Racing) 10:27.220; 2. G. Richards (Kawasaki) +0.946; 3. G. Lavilla (Ducati) +0.997; 4. D. Thomas (Kawasaki) +2.021; 5. L. Haslam (Ducati) +2.513; 6. K. Harris (Honda-Racing.co.uk) +8.390; 7. G. Mason (Honda) +8.603; 8. S. Smart (Suzuki) +8.826; 9. M. Laverty (Honda) +9.086; 10. S. Emmett (Yamaha) +9.601; 14. Rea (Red Bull Honda) +18.650



Fastest lap: 0:51.513 – G. Lavilla (lap 8) new lap record



Championship points after three rounds: 1. Rutter – 119; 2. Kiyonari – 100; 3. Lavilla – 88; 4. Richards – 83; 5. Emmett – 65; 6. Haslam – 62; 7. Thomas – 54 8. Harris 48; 9. Smart – 36; 10. Mason – 30; 17. Rea – 11





Top ten for Laverty


The Metabo British Supersport Championship is renowned for close, exciting and action-packed racing. The third round of the 2005 series at Mallory Park was no exception – especially for Red Bull Honda’s Eugene Laverty.



The 18-year-old Ulsterman crashed in the early stages with four other riders, which brought out the red flags. Thanks to the quick thinking of the Red Bull Honda team, he was able to make the restart on his spare CBR600RR – despite feeling uncomfortable with the after-effects of the earlier incident.



Sixteenth in the early stages of the race and suffering from the pain in his left side, the determined teenager fought through the pack to take a hard-earned tenth position. That helped to increase Laverty’s points tally to 16 in his debut British Supersport season.



The race was won by Padgetts Honda’s Leon Camier who came out on top of a closely contested battle with Tom Sykes and led home a freight train of seven CBR600RRs in the top ten. Camier’s win elevated him into the championship lead, 12 points clear of his team-mate Jay Vincent, with Laverty now placed 11th overall.



Eugene Laverty: “Under the circumstances, I’ve got to be happy with my performance and result. I was suffering from the pain down my left side, which hindered me from using the brakes to best effect. However, I got going when the adrenaline kicked in and within a few laps I was on a charge. I surprised myself with how many places I made up in the end.”


Supersport result: 1. L. Camier (Honda) 20:30.490; 2. T. Sykes (Suzuki) +0.587; 3. C. Jones (Honda) +7.747; 4. C. Crutchlow (Honda) +10.895; 5. J. Robinson (Honda) +12.568; 6. J. Vincent (Honda) +15.002; 7. S. Easton (Ducati) +15.056; 8. P. Riba (Kawasaki) +18.996; 9. P. Young (Honda) +25.248; 10. E. Laverty (Red Bull Honda) +27.354


Fastest lap: 52.808 – T. Sykes (lap 3)



Championship points after three rounds: 1. Camier – 63; 2. Vincent – 51; 3. Easton – 49; 4. Jones – 45; 5=. Riba, Robinson, Sykes – 27; 8. Crutchlow – 22; 9. Murphy – 19; 10. Young – 17; 11. Laverty – 16









Jones crashes out of contention


An epic British 125GP Championship race at Mallory Park ended in disappointment for Red Bull Honda’s Chris Jones when he crashed out of contention on lap 14. While the 14-year-old Droitwich rider has failed to finish the first three rounds of the Honda-dominated series, the record books won’t tell the story of what has been an encouraging start to his British Championship career.



The third round of the year over the 1.39-mile Leicestershire track was no exception. Fourth into the first turn, Jones maintained station behind the safety car after an incident on the first lap at Edwina’s chicane. Overtaking was permitted from the end of the fourth lap, but Jones had already been promoted to third after the rider in front of him ran wide at the hairpin.



The unfortunate manoeuvre meant that the rookie was given a mandatory 20-second penalty. This eventually relegated him to 14th position at the end of the 12th lap, but not before he had disputed the lead with defending champion and ultimate race winner Christian Elkin. The impressive performance by the Red Bull Honda teenager was curtailed when he collided with Bradley Smith with eight laps remaining.



Chris Jones: “I’m really annoyed with myself after what happened with the pace car. It was my mistake. However, I got my head down and tried to make amends by battling for the lead with Elkin. The crash was desperately unlucky. The rider in front of me missed a gear, and as I tried to avoid him, Smith collided with me. I’m really sorry for everyone connected with Red Bull Honda, but I fully appreciate all the support they have given to me over the season to date.”


Race result: 1. C. Elkin (Honda) 20:49.820; 2. D. Linfoot (Honda) +0.421; 3. R. Guiver (Honda) +1.288; 4. A. Beech (Honda) +1.379; 5. J. Webb (Honda) +7.468; 6. J. Westmoreland (Honda) +10.450; 7. J. Pearson (Honda) +10.903; 8. M. Wilcox (Honda) +18.008; 9. T. Grant (Honda) +21.837; 10. M. Kuhne (Honda) +23.657; DNF. C. Jones (Honda)



Fastest lap: 54.395 – B. Smith (lap 12) new lap record



Championship points after three rounds: 1. Elkin – 63; 2. Coghlan – 45; 3. Guiver – 44; 4. Clark – 29; 5. Linfoot – 29; 6. Webb – 28; 7. Beech – 28; 8. Wilcox – 24; 9. Morris – 17; 10. Lowes – 17