The Pata Honda World Superbike team endured a difficult fourth-round event at the Autodromo Nationale di Monza in Italy today with only a handful of points to show after some positive development steps with the CBR1000RR Fireblade.

In race one at the historic 5.777km circuit just north of Milan, Jonathan Rea enjoyed a superb start from the second row of the grid but, on the second lap, a missed gear on the exit of Monza’s infamous first chicane dropped him down the order.

In a bid to get back on terms, the 26-year-old from Northern Ireland ran on at the same corner eight laps later and clipped a safety bale, for which he was awarded a penalty and ordered to drop two places. Rea made those two places back over the last three laps to finish eighth at the flag.

In race two, clutch problems forced his retirement early in the race as his stand-in team-mate, Kosuke Akiyoshi, who earlier finished 14th in race one, crashed out unhurt at turn eight.

Jonathan Rea – 8th and DNF

It’s been a tough day and I don’t feel like we got what we deserved today. It was clear I had pace all weekend but, unfortunately, in a race situation, while I had pace by myself, when I tried to capitalise on my strengths in the race, I couldn’t run the same corner speed. It made it difficult to pass people and that was upsetting my already good entry speed by braking too late. So in race one I learned a lot but in race two, again I made a good start, but straight away I had some problem with the bike. I thought maybe I should adjust the clutch but, to be honest, the guys are still looking into it and investigating because I don’t think that’s the only problem. It’s hard to say we can leave here with our heads held high. When I’m on my own I’m actually enjoying riding the bike and we’ve made massive gains, but it’s hard to stomach an eighth place from a weekend. But, we move on to Donington – I’ll try and keep my head up and remain positive like the rest of the guys and hopefully come back stronger.


Kosuke Akiyoshi – 14th and DNF

During the weekend we improved the bike step-by-step. We did it in stages – first engine brake, then traction control. We made some small changes to the chassis which gave a good feeling but in race one it wasn’t correct. In race two it was a lot better, with the tyres as well. The lap time was improving but I crashed in turn eight when the rear tyre span out because I was a bit faster. Engine braking, chassis and the mapping was all good. With some more time on the bike, I think I could make more progress. It has been a good experience and I enjoyed working with this team.

Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

In race one Akiyoshi-san got into the points with 14th and Jonathan got eighth after missing a chicane and not returning to the track in the correct way. He had to drop two places and fight back so eight was the maximum. We didn’t have a lot of luck in race two either, with Akiyoshi-san crashing out of the race and Jonathan had some technical problems with the bike. All in all it’s been a weekend to forget for the Superbikes, however, I would like to say a big thank you to Akiyoshi-san for replacing Leon Haslam at such short notice. His feedback has been very accurate and useful and I hope we can work together again. But, for now, we’re happy to pack up and head for Donington!

Event results - Round 4 - Race 1

1 Marco Melandri 30m54.925s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team
2 Tom Sykes 0.085 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Eugene Laverty 0.107 IRL APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
4 Sylvain Guintoli 1.844 FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
5 Chaz Davies 7.629 GBR BMW BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team
6 Michel Fabrizio 8.407 ITA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
7 Loris Baz 15.555 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
8 Jonathan Rea 16.465 GBR HONDA Pata Honda
9 Leon Camier 16.668 GBR SUZUKI Fixi Crescent Suzuki
10 Davide Giugliano 26.820 ITA APRILIA Althea Racing
11 Ayrton Badovini 38.908 ITA DUCATI Team Ducati Alstare
12 Max Neukirchner 38.951 GER DUCATI MR-Racing
13 Fabrizio Lai 52.788 FRA KAWASAKI Pedercini Team
14 Kosuke Akiyoshi 55.889 JPN HONDA Pata Honda
15 Federico Sandi 56.006 ITA KAWASAKI Pedercini Team
16 Mark Aitchinson 56.827 AUS DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
17 Jules Cluzel 59.545 FRA SUZUKI Fixi Crescent Suzuki
18 Vittorio Iannuzzo DNF ITA BMW Grillini DENTALMATIC SBK Team

Event results - Round 4 - Race 2

1 Eugene Laverty 30m59.653s IRL APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
2 Marco Melandri 0.143 ITA BMW BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team
3 Tom Sykes 0.725 GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Sylvain Guintoli 1.619 FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
5 Michel Fabrizio 9.965 ITA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
6 Davide Giugliano 10.066 ITA APRILIA Althea Racing
7 Leon Camier 12.241 GBR SUZUKI Fixi Crescent Suzuki
8 Loris Baz 29.771 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
9 Ayrton Badovini 35.005 ITA DUCATI Team Ducati Alstare
10 Max Neukirchner 41.757 GER DUCATI MR-Racing
11 Fabrizio Lai 52.579 FRA KAWASAKI Pedercini Team
12 Vittorio Iannuzzo 1'28.772 ITA BMW Grillini DENTALMATIC SBK Team
13 Federico Sandi 1 Lap ITA KAWASAKI Pedercini Team
14 Chaz Davies DNF GBR BMW BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team
15 Jonathan Rea DNF GBR HONDA Pata Honda
16 Kosuke Akiyoshi DNF JPN HONDA Pata Honda
17 Mark Aitchinson DNF AUS DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
18 Jules Cluzel DNF FRA SUZUKI Fixi Crescent Suzuki

Championship standings

1 Sylvain Guintoli 137 pts FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
2 Eugene Laverty 125 pts IRL APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
3 Tom Sykes 119 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Marco Melandri 96 pts ITA BMW BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team
5 Chaz Davies 94 pts GBR BMW BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team
6 Loris Baz 75 pts FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
7 Michel Fabrizio 74 pts ITA APRILIA Red Devils Roma
8 Jonathan Rea 71 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
9 Davide Giugliano 49 pts ITA APRILIA Althea Racing
10 Leon Camier 46 pts GBR SUZUKI Fixi Crescent Suzuki
11 Jules Cluzel 41 pts FRA SUZUKI Fixi Crescent Suzuki
12 Max Neukirchner 39 pts GER DUCATI MR-Racing
13 Ayrton Badovini 32 pts ITA DUCATI Team Ducati Alstare
14 Leon Haslam 29 pts GBR HONDA Pata Honda
15 Carlos Checa 29 pts SPA DUCATI Team Ducati Alstare
16 Ivan Clementi 14 pts ITA BMW HTM Racing
17 Federico Sandi 12 pts ITA KAWASAKI Pedercini Team
18 Fabrizio Lai 8 pts FRA KAWASAKI Pedercini Team
19 Alexander Lundh 7 pts SWE KAWASAKI Pedercini Team
20 Vittorio Iannuzzo 6 pts ITA BMW Grillini DENTALMATIC SBK Team
21 Glen Allerton 6 pts AUS BMW Next Gen Motorsports
22 Jamie Stauffer 4 pts AUS HONDA Team Honda Racing
23 Mark Aitchinson 2 pts AUS DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
24 Kosuke Akiyoshi 2 pts JPN HONDA Pata Honda

.