Kiyonari The Top Honda Man At Challenging Brno Track

Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) was the best-placed Honda scorer at the Brno round of the championship, finally held in dry and warm conditions after rain had been threatening all weekend.

Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) remains the top placed Honda man in the SBK series, however, after posting a seventh and then recording a DNF due to technical issues. He drops to fourth overall in the standings, while Kiyonari is now a clear tenth.

The World Superbike Championship celebrated its 500th individual race at Brno, in race two, but only championship leader Troy Bayliss took any comfort from this landmark, as he scored two wins and extended his championship lead to 79 points over Max Neukirchner.

In the first 20-lap race at the recently resurfaced 5.403km circuit the top finisher for Honda was the resurgent Kiyonari who drew himself through from a poor start to mimic his fifth place Superpole performance, just a couple of seconds from his second podium of the year. Checa was eighth in the race and Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR Jr) a great tenth, having only qualified 26th on the grid.

Fifteenth place Superpole qualifier Karl Muggeridge (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) was 11th in the opening race, with Gregorio Lavilla (Vent-Axia VK Honda CBR1000RR) scoring a point for 15th, after being 19th in qualifying. Lavilla was the final Honda points scorer, as 18th and 19th places in race one went to Shuhei Aoyama (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR) and his team-mate Jason Pridmore respectively. Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR) had the misfortune to be black-flagged when blue smoke started to emanate from the rear of his machine. He recovered to a 12th place finish in race two, finding a better machine set-up between the races.

In the second race, Sofuoglu made a great stat and followed that up with a tenth place finish, mirroring his race one effort on a good day for the Turkish rookie. Lavilla was 14th but Muggeridge could not finish the race due to a technical problem. Aoyama was 18th and Pridmore 19th.

After today’s races Bayliss has 309 points, Neukirchner 230, Troy Corser 218, Checa 215 and Kiyonari, in tenth, 115.

Checa said: “I had some problems with the front tyre in the first race as it was wearing out too quickly and I lost the opportunity to catch the top guys. We changed the settings a little bit for the second race to lengthen the tyre life and the feeling with the machine became much better. Of course, from my thirteenth position on the grid was not easy to start the race and make my way forward. In the second race I was able to catch up with a fast group. Then I started to have problems with my bike; it just stopped working. I made a reset on my electronics and switched off the traction control to finish another lap, but I had to go back to the garage. It’s a disappointing results for me today.”

Kiyonari said: “I had a very bad start in both races. I practiced my starts in the qualifying sessions but I just struggle in the races and lose too many positions in the first lap. I have had no problems with the settings of the machine and the feeling has been very good all weekend. The last three or four laps the bike started to misfire, but I managed keep my position. I tried to save my front tyre but pushed too hard on the rear tyre and finished it in the last laps. My mechanics have worked hard and we’ve pushed hard to set the results. It was not easy this weekend but we found a good setting and managed to gain improve our pace. I’m just disappointed about the start of the race. If I had a good start I would have been able to get better results.”

Sofuoglu said: “I started from twenty-sixth position today and managed to finish both races in tenth place. It looks like we are heading in the right direction. We pushed very hard in the Vallelunga test to change my riding style and improve the pace and it looks like today we saw the result of that. My physical condition is becoming better and there certainly is more motivation now for the forthcoming races. I am looking forward to going to Brands Hatch for the next round.”

Rolfo said: “It was unfortunate not to finish race one but I did not find a good feeling on the bike even before the problem. At the start of race two, with a full fuel tank it was not easy to ride but when it went down it improved. We found a better setting for race two and I was able to set better times. We found something on the set-up that should help us from now on.”

Aoyama said: “I got a very bad start in race one and that made the race very difficult and I lost places, I tried to move forward but it was too late. Race two was a worse start and I was almost last and I was not able to catch them. I tried to push but it was not enough.”

The ninth round of the World Superbike Championship will take place at Brno, on 20th July 2008.

World Supersport Championship

Rea Secures First Win On All Honda Podium

Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) beat his team-mate Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) by only 0.020 seconds at Brno to record his first ever World Supersport race win, after Rea had qualified sixth and Pitt fourth on the grid.

Pitt also secured the new lap record at this resurfaced circuit, with a new best of 2’04.062 coming on the 18th and very last lap, as he tried to overhaul Rea on the run to the finishing line.

The competitiveness of this year’s Brno race was underlined by the fact that Pitt’s new lap record is over two seconds faster than the previous best, set last year by Kenan Sofuoglu.

The final podium slot on offer at Brno was taken by Josh Brookes (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsports Honda CBR600RR) who was a fixture in the leading group from his third place slot on the grid. He was 1.4 seconds from the win.

Any one of five Honda riders could have won this particular race, with a leading group of ten riders disputing the podium places for half race distance, before the leading contenders started to pull clear. Robbin Harms (Hannspree Stiggy Motorsports Honda CBR600RR) was another potential podium finisher until he was forced out with technical problems, on the penultimate lap, while third in the running order.

Craig Jones (Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR), who led for eight laps before he was forced out, was showing great mastery of the 5.403km circuit and attempted to continue running despite a misfire, but had to pull in eventually. Jones is now seventh overall, on 80 points.

Gianluca Nannelli (Hannspree Althea Honda CBR600RR) and Russell Holland (Hannspree Althea Honda CBR600RR) ran in the top group for a time but slipped back to finish sixth and seventh respectively.

In the overall championship standings, Pitt is a clear leader with 133 points to Brookes’ 101 and Broc Parkes’ 100. Fabien Foret is fourth on 97 points, despite missing this race after cracking two vertebrae in a Friday qualifying crash, escaping with no neurological damage despite his double fracture. In winning today’s race, Rea is now fifth on 92 points.

Honda has a 52 point lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship as the series heads for the next round at Brands Hatch on August 3.

Rea said: “I am really happy to come to a new circuit and to win is a really good result. I wasn’t expecting to win here and was putting all my expectations on Brands Hatch. We knew from yesterday morning’s free practice that we had the pace to run up front and fight for a win. I want to thank Andrew; we have worked hard together as a team to find a set of tyres that worked for both of us over a race distance. While all the others were going out on a one-lap mission, Andrew and me put a race set-up together. I want to thank my crew who have done such a good job this weekend. The bikes were pretty good and we had a good set-up.”

Pitt said: “I am pretty happy with my results today. It’s good for the championship and a great result for the team. Another one-two for the Ten Kate machines, just like we managed before, in Assen. For most of the race I tried to stay out of trouble and save the tyres to the end. I got caught out a little bit on the second last lap but pushed back to third. I feel like I was able to get past Johnny somewhere but he put a pretty good last lap together. I’m happy enough finishing second. We tested a lot of long runs in the qualifying sessions and knew what tyres to use. It’s a good result and congratulations to Johnny.”

Brookes said: “I got a good start and took the lead for the first two laps, but the bike felt a bit heavy and difficult in the corners. I think the full tank just made the bike hard to handle and I couldn't keep up with the leaders. I dropped to seventh, but the pace wasn't so fast and that allowed me to take a few laps getting comfortable. The race became more competitive towards the end, but I felt good enough to start challenging the front-runners again. I pushed really hard in the final laps and was able to finish the race in third and take my fourth podium of the season.”

Harms said: “This was one of my best races in a long time. The bike was working extremely well and although I had problems with my rear tyre sliding too much at the start of the race, it improved after a while. As the grip level increased, I could work my way up the field. Towards the end of the race I was having a big fight with the Ten Kate boys and even took the lead for a while - and that was a lot of fun! I was in third, going into the last lap, and my plan was to overtake them both just before the hill but, before I could make my move, something went wrong with my bike.”

Jones said: “I am gutted. I was enjoying the race and knew I had the pace to go for the win. I was focused on keeping my lead and building a gap when I came out of a corner and immediately felt a loss of power. I had to pull across or the riders behind me would have hit me; and then I tried to keep going but it got worse and I was forced to retire. I am also gutted for the whole Parkalgar Honda team, everyone worked real hard to get me to the front and the result does not do the team justice.”

Nannelli said: “I’m pretty happy with my sixth position even though I'd have liked to have done better today. But when Aitchison crashed in front of me I lost the first group of riders. My race pace was very strong and I was having a good dice with Russell. Unfortunately, I chose a soft rear tyre and starting from the middle of the race wasn’t able to ride my bike as I would have liked and I couldn’t really chase the riders in front of me.”

Holland said: “My start was not so bad and in the first laps my pace was fast and I was able to make two or three passes. I stayed behind Gianluca for a few laps because I did not have enough confidence with my front tyre to pass him and the other riders of our group. During the last laps I pushed very hard trying to maintain my position.”