TEN KATE HONDA man Jonathan Rea finished the Imola two day superbike test in top spot after putting in a quick lap right at the end of the final session at a sweltering Imola track in preparation for the round at the historic Italian circuit on September 27.
The on-form youth set a time of 1 minute 48.670 seconds around the 4.936km circuit to edge out Michel Fabrizio on the Ducati Xerox, who had been quickest until then, from the top slot by two-tenths of a second. Texan Ben Spies finished third overall, the Yamaha World Superbike man not improving on his time from Wednesday. Points leader and the only other WSB race winner this year Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox) did not take part in the test because he is recovering for the next round at Brno after his huge Donington crash.
Rea said: “It’s really motivational coming to a new circuit and finding your feet. Our approach was a bit different than normal in that we forgot about setting up the bike and getting me up to speed first. Now we’ve had a lot of time on the bike the package is very strong and finally I’m happy after we went round in circles a bit at Donington. The team has put a massive effort into it, so a big thanks to them for everything. I put my fastest time in on a qualifier, but we’ve been consistently fast on both days, in the top five, and I did a long-run and the tyre was pretty good so hopefully they can bring that for the race. Where we are right now is good so I’m really happy.”
Fourth place went to Ducati DFX Corse’s Lorenzo Lanzi, who was perfectly at home around his local circuit, while Tom Sykes (Yamaha World Superbike) also made progress in yesterday’s morning session to move up to fifth. John Hopkins (Stiggy Racing Honda) ran well this morning to finish sixth, but was then advised to sit out the afternoon session as his recent injuries to his hip and pelvis are still not fully healed. Ruben Xaus (BMW Motorrad) made considerable progress over the two days, moving his S1000 RR up the timesheets to finish seventh overall, but team-mate Troy Corser could, pusslingly, only manage seventeenth. Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing Honda), Shane Byrne (Sterilgarda Ducati) and Shinya Nakano (Aprilia Racing) completed the top 10, the Italian factory outfit preferring to concentrate on a major parts evaluation session rather than go for outright times.
Overall Times:
1. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'48.670;
2. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'48.847;
3. Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1'49.262;
4. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1'49.309;
5. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1'49.422;
6. Hopkins J. (USA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'49.443;
7. Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1'49.467;
8. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'49.555;
9. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1'49.577;
10. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'49.645;
11. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'49.736;
12. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'50.226;
13. Lagrive M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'50.265;
14. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1'50.310;
15. Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'50.414;
16. Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1'50.423;
17. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1'50.486;
18. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'50.518;
19. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'50.583;
20. Polita A. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'50.743;
21. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'51.077;
22. Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'52.547
