After racing last weekend at Portimao in Portugal, the Pata Honda World Superbike pairing of Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam heads directly to Laguna Seca in the US for next weekend’s (11-13 July) ninth-round races before going into an eight-week summer recess.

The World Superbike championship returned to the 3.610km Californian circuit last season for the first time since 2004, with this year’s visit marking the tenth anniversary of Chris Vermeulen’s double victory on his Ten Kate Racing Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade.

However, Jonathan Rea missed the return visit in 2013 as he recuperated from a broken femur sustained at the Nurburgring in Germany. Coming directly from his race two win in Portimao last Sunday, this will be the first time the 27-year-old from Northern Ireland has taken the current World Superbike specification Fireblade on to the undulating Laguna track.

Haslam showed the potential of the Pata Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP during Superpole at Laguna Seca in 2013, but the British rider, 31, was unable to translate that into two good results in the races that straddled last year’s race weekend – race one on Saturday with the second outing on Sunday.

This year’s schedule reverts to a slightly revised but still more traditional raceday format, as follows:


Laguna Seca World Superbike schedule (local times – GMT -7hrs):

Friday 11 July

10.30-11.15 - Free Practice 1
14.00-14.45 - Free Practice 2
16.45-17.30 - Free Practice 3

Saturday 12 July

10.00-10.30 - Free Practice 4
13.00-13.15 - Superpole 1
13.25-13.40 - Superpole 2

Sunday 13 July

09.00-09.15 - Warm-up
11.00 - Race 1 (25 laps, 90.250km)
14.45 - Race 2 (25 laps, 90.250km)

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