Rea Dominates All Aspects of Assen Race Weekend

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Rea Dominates All Aspects of Assen Race Weekend - Malcolm - 28-04-2010

The glorious weather that blessed the entire World Superbike weekend at Assen was mirrored in the performances of the locally based Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team and its British rider Jonathan Rea. The 23-year old rider from Northern Ireland secured the first Superpole win of his career in qualifying, the new lap record and two race wins, boosting him to third in the championship.

Jonathan Rea

A two-day test at Assen in the period after the last round at Valencia allowed Jonathan and his Dutch crew to make a major change in his set-up, and this had instant and repeatable results at the new length Circuit van Drenthe.

The podium ceremonies at Assen were all British affairs, with James Toseland (Yamaha) and Leon Camier (Aprilia) joining Jonathan in race one, and Leon Haslam (Suzuki) and Toseland again inside the top three in race two.

Rea’s fellow Hannspree Ten Kate rider Max Neukirchner fell on lap five of race one, but remounted to finish in 20th place. He had been 16th in qualifying, making it to Superpole 2 but no further. In the second race he was a battling ninth, only nine seconds from the win as he made real progress with his set-up. Max is now 17th in the overall standings.

Max Neukirchener

ECHO CRS Honda’s Broc Parkes raced hard after qualifying for Superpole on Saturday, but went out of the first race with a technical issue on lap ten. He rallied in race two but could only finish 17th, missing out on points just as he had missed out on the first three championship rounds with a tibia fracture. Parkes was also stopped from taking part in the first practice session at Assen, having inadvertently missed the new rider’s briefing, and was only allowed out on track in the first qualifying session on Friday afternoon.

Squadra Corse Italia Garvie Image entrant Vittorio Iannuzzo did not ride at Assen, due a hand injury suffered at the recent Valencia race.

In the overall championship standings, Haslam has 148 points, Max Biaggi (Aprilia) is on 128, and Rea has now overtaken Carlos Checa (Ducati), with Jonathan on 110 points and Checa 103.

The next race takes place at another historic circuit, Monza, on May 9.

Laverty Wins In Fine Style As Sofuoglu Sets New Lap Record

Parkalgar Honda’s Eugene Laverty took his second win of the year as he outpaced Kawasaki rider Joan Lascorz by 2.796 seconds at a new-look Assen circuit. In doing so he moved to within 19 points of the championship lead, held by Lascorz.

Laverty took the race lead from Sofuoglu after only two laps and re-passed Lascorz immediately when the Spanish rider attempted to get by him shortly after, upping his pace and pressure to put clean air between Lascorz and himself. A small mistake near the end by Lascorz put paid to any final threat he posed to Laverty.

Eugene Laverty

Hannspree Ten Kate’s Kenan Sofuoglu was the pole man but despite leading for the first two laps, and setting a new lap record of 1’38.608 on lap 13, he could not stay with Laverty, and eventually Lascorz on the final lap. Sofuoglu is still second overall in the rankings after four of 13 rounds, on 77 points, and set a new track best lap of 1’37.908 on Saturday to take pole position in final qualifying.

Honda is now ten points ahead of Kawasaki in the overall Manufacturers’ Standings, 95 points to 85.

Rookie WSS rider Gino Rea, from the Intermoto Czech Honda team, took his CBR600RR to seventh place today, fighting with Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki) and his own team-mate Massimo Roccoli. Gino moved up in the rankings again, and is now sixth.

Roccoli was ninth and out of sorts after a big crash last time out in Spain, while Parkalgar Honda’s Miguel Praia fought off the pain of his recent Valencia injury to finish a creditable tenth.

Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Michele Pirro fell on lap three of the race, rejoined, but had to retire in the pits, dropping to 11th in the championship in the process.

WSBK Rider Comments

SBK Rider Quotes

Jonathan Rea, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: 1st and 1st - 3rd overall.

“It feels like a home win because I have spent the past two weeks here in my motor home behind the Ten Kate workshops. It has been great today and I could not have done this without my team. They gave me a fantastic bike. We changed the balance of the bike for this weekend and made it more comfortable. Both races are probably the smartest races I have ever ridden. I never got frustrated in traffic and when it was time to pull the pin I did. I am really happy with the double. It was a clean sweep, so I am proud as punch and I cannot wait to take this result on. I will savour the moment.”

Max Neukirchner, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: 20th and 9th - 17th overall.

“We have changed the bike a lot this week and I adapted my riding style a bit better this morning in warm-up so we thought we could improve more in the race. The problem was that although the settings were the same I hadn’t ridden this new style, which requires braking further into the corner, with a full tank. Anyway, I ended up losing the front, but brought the bike home. We went harder at the front and the rear for race two and it worked for me, so it feels like a great step forward today.”

Broc Parkes, ECHO CRS Honda: DNF and 17th

“My comeback weekend was a tough one, really tough with my injury, and we missed the first hour of practice as well. I am still struggling with the leg quite a bit, and we definitely have work to do before Monza. We have problems with set-up and hopefully we will find it before Monza.”

WSS Rider Comments

Eugene Laverty, Parkalgar Honda 1st - 3rd overall.

“That was fantastic for us. I was not expecting to ride away at the front like I did at the end, but I knew the bike would be getting better as the race went on, so I stayed up there. When Lascorz passed me inside I passed him again at turn three, which isn’t a regular passing place. The gap just kept going up and that left me an easy last lap compared to last year. A fantastic weekend and a big thank you to all the team.”

Kenan Sofuoglu, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: 3rd - 2nd overall.

“It was not a really good race because at the beginning I felt I was the fastest but later in the race I could not pass them. Maybe the warm conditions were not so good for my bike, as it was impossible to brake hard. It would have been nice to have won the race but I took the points and I go to Monza with the intention to do better than this.”

Gino Rea, Intermoto Czech Honda: 7th - 6th overall.

“I had a good battle and with someone unexpected as well in Fujiwara. Just to ride behind him was pretty shocking at the start. When I got behind him at the beginning I thought he could stay with the group in front and he would pull me up, but he was actually holding me up in quite a few places. He was late on the brakes, so that made it quite hard to overtake him. From there the group in front pulled away and had to beat both Fujiwara and Roccoli to the line. We are working in the right way, consistent, but we need to close the gap to the front group.”

Massimo Roccoli, Czech Intermoto Honda: 9th - 9th overall.

“It was a difficult weekend for me again after the crash in Valencia but the team did a very good job. I tried to push but I did not want to fall again. I like Assen but it is very difficult, so we did not make the best race but we scored some good points for the team and the bike was perfect.”

Miguel Praia, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: 10th - 13th overall.

“Coming here I was not feeling physically strong, after my crash in Valencia. We changed the handlebars on the bike again to help me and I felt more comfortable, but because I had so little mobility I could hardly move around on the bike at all. I was tenth but in these conditions it was a good result. The bike was fantastic, so it is just a shame I was not so fit.”

Michele Pirro, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: DNF - 11th overall.

“My start was not so bad but I ran off track onto the gravel and when I got down to the hairpin I fell. I think maybe there was still some dust on the tyres. I got back on again but I had lost a footpeg and could not finish. I hope for better things at Monza next time.”

World Superbike and World Supersport 2010 - Round 04 ASSEN – Netherlands

Superbike Race 1

1 J. REA / Honda CBR1000RR / HANNspree Ten Kate Honda

2 J. TOSELAND / Yamaha YZF R1 / Yamaha Sterilgarda Team

3 L. CAMIER / Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. / Aprilia Alitalia Racing

4 C. CHECA / Ducati 1098R / Althea Racing

5 T. CORSER / BMW S1000 RR / BMW Motorrad Motorsport

6 M. BIAGGI / Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. / Aprilia Alitalia Racing

7 J. SMRZ / Ducati 1098R / Team PATA B&G Racing

8 C. CRUTCHLOW / Yamaha YZF R1 / Yamaha Sterilgarda Team

9 S. BYRNE / Ducati 1098R / Althea Racing

10 N. HAGA / Ducati 1098R / Ducati Xerox Team

11 L. HASLAM / Suzuki GSX-R1000 / Team Suzuki Alstare

12 T. SYKES / Kawasaki ZX 10R / Kawasaki Racing Team

13 M. FABRIZIO / Ducati 1098R / Ducati Xerox Team

14 S. GUINTOLI / Suzuki GSX-R1000 / Team Suzuki Alstare

15 L. SCASSA / Ducati 1098R / Supersonic Racing Team

Superbike Race 2

1 J. REA / Honda CBR1000RR / HANNspree Ten Kate Honda

2 L. HASLAM / Suzuki GSX-R1000 / Team Suzuki Alstare

3 J. TOSELAND / Yamaha YZF R1 / Yamaha Sterilgarda Team

4 M. BIAGGI / Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. / Aprilia Alitalia Racing

5 T. CORSER / BMW S1000 RR / BMW Motorrad Motorsport

6 C. CHECA / Ducati 1098R / Althea Racing

7 J. SMRZ / Ducati 1098R / Team PATA B&G Racing

8 S. BYRNE / Ducati 1098R / Althea Racing

9 M. NEUKIRCHNER / Honda CBR1000RR / HANNspree Ten Kate Honda

10 R. XAUS / BMW S1000 RR / BMW Motorrad Motorsport

11 L. SCASSA / Ducati 1098R / Supersonic Racing Team

12 M. FABRIZIO / Ducati 1098R / Ducati Xerox Team

13 S. GUINTOLI / Suzuki GSX-R1000 / Team Suzuki Alstare

14 C. VERMEULEN / Kawasaki ZX 10R / Kawasaki Racing Team

15 M. BAIOCCO / Kawasaki ZX 10R / Team Pedercini

Supersport

1 E. LAVERTY / Honda CBR600RR / Parkalgar Honda

2 J. LASCORZ / Kawasaki ZX-6R / Kawasaki Motocard.com

3 K. SOFUOGLU / Honda CBR600RR / HANNspree Ten Kate Honda

4 C. DAVIES / Triumph Daytona 675 / ParkinGO Triumph BE1

5 M. LAGRIVE / Triumph Daytona 675 / ParkinGO Triumph BE1

6 R. HARMS / Honda CBR600RR / Harms Benjan Racing

7 G. REA / Honda CBR600RR / Intermoto Czech

8 K. FUJIWARA / Kawasaki ZX-6R / Kawasaki Motocard.com

9 M. ROCCOLI / Honda CBR600RR / Intermoto Czech

10 M. PRAIA / Honda CBR600RR / Parkalgar Honda

11 A. LUNDH / Honda CBR600RR / Cresto Guide Racing Team

12 J. DISALVO / Triumph Daytona 675 / ParkinGO BE1 Triumph

13 D. DELL'OMO / Honda CBR600RR / Kuja Racing

14 B. CHESAUX / Honda CBR600RR / Harms Benjan Racing

15 P. CAZZOLA / Honda CBR600RR / Kuja Racing