Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea took his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP to third place in a truncated race two at round nine of the 2014 World Superbike Championship at Laguna Seca in the USA this afternoon. The two races were won by Marco Melandri and Tom Sykes with Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate Leon Haslam scoring two seventh place finishes.

Starting from tenth place on the grid after his Superpole crash yesterday, Rea got a good start to the first 25-lap race around the 3.610km Californian circuit. However, while running in fifth place, the 27-year-old ran wide at turn three and dropped to tenth before fighting his way back to sixth place at the flag.

Race two was red-flagged after nine laps with Rea holding seventh place but a second red flag was shown immediately after the restart. Lining up seventh on the re-formed grid for a seven-lap sprint, he got another good start and a bold move past Toni Elias in turn 10 secured his 40th World Superbike podium.

Haslam had matched his team-mate’s pace for most of the Laguna Seca weekend but front grip issues restricted progress for the 31-year-old in the first race, in which he finished three seconds behind Rea. The grip issue transferred to the rear of Haslam’s bike in race two and he was forced to settle for another seventh place finish.

Next week, both Pata Honda riders will fly to Japan to join other Honda CBR1000RR-powered teams in the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours race on 27 July before an extended summer break, with the World Superbike Championship re-grouping for round ten at Jerez in Spain on 5-7 September.


Jonathan Rea - 6th and 3rd

I feel we should have been stronger in race one today, but that was a knock-on effect of my mistake yesterday in Superpole. But the red flags definitely helped me in race two by improving my grid position but they gave me a bike today that was pretty good. In the second part of the race, I felt like I had a bike that could compete right at the front had I been there from the first lap. Unfortunately, Laguna is really hard to pass at so I had to make some bold manoeuvres but I enjoyed it! It’s how I like to ride and I’m excited to leave here with a podium, which almost feels better than my race win last week in Portugal. I’m excited to go into the summer break and come back strong for the last part of the year.

Leon Haslam - 7th and 7th

In race one I felt pretty good – I got a good start but really struggled with front grip from lap one. I was hanging in there for a top five finish but in the last six or seven laps my pace dropped off quite a lot as I was really struggling with the front grip. In race two we didn’t change anything but the front grip came back and it was really good, but we struggled more with rear grip. On the three starts in race two the grip got worse and worse and I was over a second slower than I had been on a 20-lap tyre yesterday. We need to analyse why because the bike was the same and the boys have worked really well this weekend and we’ve been making good progress, especially on old tyres. To be that slow on new tyres in those re-starts was not what we wanted.

Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

Leon had a good start in race one and was doing OK but the front grip went and he couldn’t do the lap times any more. Race two was a bit hectic but he had no rear grip and was a long way off his lap times from the weekend. We’re just investigating whether it was something with the tyre because all weekend he was matching Jonathan’s times, which was encouraging. Jonathan also had a good start to race one but in his eagerness to catch the front runners he ran off the track at turn three and rejoined back in tenth place. He got back to sixth but was very close to the guys in fourth and fifth. The red flags in race two led to a seven-lap sprint but he got another really good start and then passed Elias with a nice move for third. We’re really happy with that and we’re third in the championship a nd still in touch with second. That’s a good way to go into the summer break.

Event results - Round 9- Race 1

1 Marco Melandri 35'07.782 ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
2 Sylvain Guintoli 0.905 FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
3 Tom Sykes 6.627 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Davide Giugliano 13.574 ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
5 Toni Elias 13.855 SPA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
6 Jonathan Rea 15.575 GBR HONDA Pata Honda
7 Leon Haslam 18.820 GBR HONDA Pata Honda
8 Alex Lowes 20.184 GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
9 Loris Baz 34.479 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
10 David Salom 37.463 ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
11 Niccolo Canepa 45.440 ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
12 Sylvain Barrier 47.538 FRA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
13 Bryan Staring 49.750 AUS KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
14 Jeremy Guarnoni 55.420 FRA KAWASAKI MRS Kawasaki
15 Leon Camier 58.449 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
16 Alessandro Andreozzi 1'08.922 ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
17 Gabor Rizmayer 1'17.853 HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
18 Geoff May 1'18.084 USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
19 Chris Ulrich 1 Lap USA HONDA GEICO Motorcycle Road Racing
20 Sheridan Morais 3 Laps RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
21 Larry Pegram DNF USA BIMOTA Foremost Insurance EBR
22 Peter Sebestyen DNF HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
23 Aaron Yates DNF USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
24 Eugene Laverty DNF IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
25 Chaz Davies DNF GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
26 Christian Iddon DNF GBR BIMOTA Team Alstare
27 Ayrton Badovini DNF ITA BIMOTA Team Alstare

Event results - Round 9- Race 2

1 Tom Sykes 9'51.346 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Sylvain Guintoli 1.014 FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
3 Jonathan Rea 2.793 GBR HONDA Pata Honda
4 Eugene Laverty 3.681 IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
5 Toni Elias 4.165 SPA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
6 Loris Baz 7.160 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
7 Leon Haslam 7.331 GBR HONDA Pata Honda
8 David Salom 15.061 ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
9 Alessandro Andreozzi 15.674 ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
10 Leon Camier 17.015 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
11 Jeremy Guarnoni 18.338 FRA KAWASAKI MRS Kawasaki
12 Bryan Staring 19.270 AUS KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
13 Sheridan Morais 20.040 RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
14 Larry Pegram 23.845 USA BIMOTA Foremost Insurance EBR
15 Gabor Rizmayer 25.592 HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
16 Geoff May 26.688 USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
17 Chris Ulrich 31.893 USA HONDA GEICO Motorcycle Road Racing
18 Davide Giugliano DNF ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
19 Marco Melandri DNF ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
20 Niccolo Canepa DNF ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
21 Sylvain Barrier DNF FRA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
22 Ayrton Badovini DNF ITA BIMOTA Team Alstare
23 Christian Iddon DNF GBR BIMOTA Team Alstare

Championship standings

1 Tom Sykes 325 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Sylvain Guintoli 281 pts FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
3 Jonathan Rea 261 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
4 Loris Baz 253 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
5 Marco Melandri 217 pts ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
6 Chaz Davies 159 pts GBR DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
7 Davide Giugliano 153 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team
8 Toni Elias 137 pts SPA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
9 Eugene Laverty 134 pts IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
10 Leon Haslam 133 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
11 Alex Lowes 119 pts GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
12 David Salom 88 pts ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
13 Niccolo Canepa 51 pts ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
14 Leon Camier 37 pts GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
15 Jeremy Guarnoni 33 pts FRA KAWASAKI MRS Kawasaki
16 Sylvain Barrier 21 pts FRA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
17 Sheridan Morais 17 pts RSA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
18 Alessandro Andreozzi 17 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
19 Luca Scassa 16 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
20 Fabien Foret 14 pts FRA KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
21 Claudio Corti 13 pts ITA MV AGUSTA MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
22 Bryan Staring 12 pts AUS KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
23 Glen Allerton 6 pts AUS BMW BMW Motorrad Italia SBK
24 Riccardo Russo 5 pts ITA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
25 Kervin Bos 5 pts NED HONDA Winteb LiquidRubber Racing T.
26 Michel Fabrizio 2 pts ITA KAWASAKI IRON BRAIN Kawasaki SBK Team
27 Imre Toth 2 pts HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
28 Roamin Lanusse 1 pts FRA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
29 Gabor Rizmayer 1 pts HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
30 Peter Sebestyen 0 pts HUN BMW BMW Team Toth
31 Geoff May 0 pts USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR
32 Christian Iddon 0 pts GBR BIMOTA Team Alstare
33 Aaron Yates 0 pts USA BIMOTA Team Hero EBR

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