Jonathan Rea took fourth and second place finishes in today’s two sixth round World Superbike championship races at Miller Motorsports Park in the USA.

The races were won by Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri, but Rea showed strongly in both 21-lap outings, the second of which was curtailed followed a crash involving Rea’s Honda World Superbike team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama.

Aoyama, who finished 17th in the first outing, was unhurt in the third lap crash at the 4.9km Miller circuit just outside Salt Lake City in Utah. However, the Japanese rider’s CBR1000RR struck a curb in the crash which holed the engine.

Rea re-started the delayed race from sixth place on the grid and, after early leader Carlos Checa crashed out, the 25-year-old was quickly embroiled in a thrilling four-way tussle for the lead with Marco Melandri, Chaz Davies and Max Biaggi.

Taking the lead on lap 11, Rea controlled the race until the final lap, with the superior handling of his CBR1000RR clearly visible in the twistier parts of the track. However, Melandri had the edge on speed down Miller’s 1.2km straight and Rea finally crossed the line just 0.2s behind the Italian.

Jonathan Rea – 4th and 2nd

We knew we had good pace for today but I had some front chatter in race one. It was coming from the engine braking so we released that a bit for race two. We changed the front tyre as well, because the temperature had gone up. That gave me the confidence to push because I knew the guys in front in race one had used the same one. It was good, and my guys gave me a little bit more power off the turn. It’s clear to see how well the bike is working and how much traction I’ve got. It’s just the big, long straight here at Salt Lake where we’ve been down on speed. Without dwelling on the negatives, my guys gave me a great bike and it’s working really well. I’ve got real confidence now and don’t feel like I’m riding on the edge – it’s quite controlled, which is a good thing, so thanks to all the team for their continued hard work. Nobody’s giving up and, without thinking about the championship, it’s just nice to come back here to the winner’s enclosure and be on the podium. After the nightmare of last year at Miller, it’s really cool to be fighting for wins.

Hiroshi Aoyama – 17th and DNF

It’s been a difficult first time here at Miller for me. We started with rain and improved each session but not enough to catch up with the others. This morning I felt really good in warm-up so I was hoping that I could make a really good race. But in race one I had a problem and went off the track about three times and it was really difficult to finish the race without crashing. In the second race I wanted to make things better and was really motivated, but I pushed a little too hard and crashed. I’m lucky that I’m not hurt so I can look forward to Misano now, which is a track that I know.

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

Unfortunately, it hasn’t been a very good day for Hiroshi, with 17th in race one and a crash early in race two. At least he’s not hurt, so we’ll go to Misano, a track that he knows, and keep working and pushing to get him more comfortable on the bike to show what a good rider he is. For sure, he can do better than he is doing at the moment, so we’ll stay positive to motivate him and help him get closer to the front. For Jonathan it’s been a very good day with two great results. Fourth in race one was followed by a fight for the win in race two right up until the very last lap. Well done to him, the team, the crew around him. It’s been a really good day.

Pole position : 1m47.626s (164,135 Km/h) Jakub Smrz, Ducati
Fastest lap : Race 1 - Lap 18 - 1m48.820s (162,334Km/h) Carlos Checa, Ducati
Circuit record lap : 1m48.045s (163.499Km/h) Carlos Checa, Honda, 2010
Circuit Best Lap : 1m47.081s (164.970Km/h) Carlos Checa, Honda, 2010

Event results - Round 6 - Race 1

1 Carlos Checa 38m21.283s SPA DUCATI Althea Racing
2 Marco Melandri 2.313 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
3 Max Biaggi 5.338 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
4 Jonathan Rea 5.517 GBR HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
5 Eugene Laverty 12.201 IR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
6 Jakub Smrz 13.262 CZE DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
7 Chaz Davies 19.662 GBR APRILIA ParkinGO MTC Racing
8 Tom Sykes 21.292 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
9 Michel Fabrizio 21.450 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
10 Leon Haslam 23.433 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
11 Davide Giugliano 23.696 ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
12 Sylvain Guintoli 24.752 FRA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
13 Leon Camier 29.400 GBR SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
14 Ayrton Badovini 31.222 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
15 Loris Baz 32.966 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
16 Maxime Berger 35.409 ITA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
17 Hiroshi Aoyama 52.153 JPN HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
18 Shane Turpin 1 Lap USA DUCATI Boulder Motor Sports
19 Jake Holden 1 Lap USA BMW Grillini Progrea Superbike Team
20 Leandro Mercado DNF - 8 Laps ARG KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
21 Lorenzo Zanetti DNF - 10 Laps ITA DUCATI PATA Racing Team
22 John Hopkins DNF - 14 Laps USA SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
23 David Salom DNF - 14 Laps SPA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
24 Niccolo Canepa DNF - 15 Laps ITA DUCATI Red Devils Roma

Event results - Round 6 - Race 2

1 Marco Melandri 32m56.257s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
2 Jonathan Rea 0.195 GBR HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
3 Max Biaggi 2.137 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
4 Chaz Davies 4.245 GBR APRILIA ParkinGO MTC Racing
5 Tom Sykes 9.534 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
6 Eugene Laverty 9.798 IR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
7 Davide Giugliano 11.891 ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
8 Leon Haslam 12.715 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
9 Jakub Smrz 13.017 CZE DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
10 Sylvain Guintoli 13.703 FRA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
11 Leon Camier 15.687 GBR SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
12 Michel Fabrizio 21.923 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
13 Ayrton Badovini 23.940 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
14 Loris Baz 24.051 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
15 Maxime Berger 33.897 ITA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
16 John Hopkins 38.692 USA SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
17 Leandro Mercado 47.703 ARG KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
18 Jake Holden 1'07.223 USA BMW Grillini Progrea Superbike Team
19 Shane Turpin 1'41.714 USA DUCATI Boulder Motor Sports
20 David Salom DNF - 5 Laps SPA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
21 Carlos Checa DNF - 7 Laps SPA DUCATI Althea Racing
22 Niccolo Canepa DNF - 9 Laps ITA DUCATI Red Devils Roma
23 Lorenzo Zanetti DNF - 13 Laps ITA DUCATI PATA Racing Team
24 Hiroshi Aoyama DNF - DNS JPN HONDA Honda World Superbike Team

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