Both Honda World Superbike Team riders, Jonathan Rea and Hiroshi Aoyama, took two top ten finishes in today's opening round of the 2012 World Superbike championship at Phillip Island in Australia.

With the race victories going to Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa, Rea took seventh and fourth places in the two 22-lap outings, while his team-mate Aoyama finished eighth and ninth.

Starting from the outside of the second row, 25-year-old Rea enjoyed good starts to both outings. In race one, however, a lack of rear grip had dropped him back to seventh at the flag, while in race two, he held second place for much of the race after a set-up change improved grip levels. However, with just two laps to go, he slipped behind Biaggi and then lost out to fellow Brit Tom Sykes on the final straight.

After problems in qualifying, World Superbike rookie Aoyama, started from 16th on the grid. Opting for the softer rear tyre in both races, the Japanese rider fought through to the top ten in race one, while a small set-up change allowed him to make it a double in his debut SBK outing.

Jonathan Rea – 7th and 4th

We’ve still got a bagful of points to go on to Imola with but we wanted to be on the podium in both races. I honestly feel like we got a bad tyre in race one and in race two we didn’t want to run in the same situation, so we were thinking about changing the tyre, but all our logic and race runs throughout the weekend told us to keep this [harder] tyre in the heat. Directly, I had more grip – OK, the temperature was even hotter, which would go against our logic – but the tyre felt like it should feel and I was able to ride strong and consistent until probably five laps to go when durability fell off and I was going backwards. I felt fresh and strong in both races and the guys have worked well all weekend. We had a little crash on Saturday and the boys worked so good with the one-bike rule to get us back out there. You have to think that this circuit is a bit unique with the tyre character, how long you’re on the side and the heat generated in the tyre. Now we move on to some tracks that are good for us and there’s a lot of work to do back at base. The guys need to find some speed, so that’s on the agenda; I’ve just done a de-brief and everything feels OK. I want to say thanks to everyone for all their help this weekend – it feels good to get to the start of the season fit and healthy and I’m looking forward to round two now.

Hiroshi Aoyama – 8th and 9th

I think it’s not so bad for my first Superbike weekend. We had a not-so-easy start on Friday when I had one crash and we had a lot of problems. That didn’t help us to go much faster and we tried many things but couldn’t improve. In the races we managed to finish in the top ten with eighth and ninth and I want to say thanks to all the guys who worked for me. It was a tough weekend but ended up not too bad. I’m looking forward to the next race in Imola – of course I’ve never ridden there, so it’s going to be tough for Friday. We have month to improve the bike a little bit and, if I can find a better feeling, I can push a little bit more and this is what I am looking for. Anyway, considering the situation now, it’s not so bad!



Pole position : 1m31.323s (175.224Km/h) Tom Sykes, Kawasaki
Fastest lap : Race 1 : 1m31.785s (174.342Km/h) Max Biaggi, Aprilia
Circuit record lap : 1m31.785s (174.342Km/h) Max Biaggi, Aprilia, 2012
Circuit Best Lap : 1m30.882s (176.070Km/h) Carlos Checa, Ducati, 2011


Event results - Round 1 - Race 1

1 Max Biaggi 34m13.963s ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
2 Marco Melandri +7.104s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
3 Sylvain Guintoli +7.378s FRA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
4 Tom Sykes +12.189s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
5 Jakub Smrz +16.424s CZE DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
6 Michel Fabrizio +20.200s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
7 Jonathan Rea +20.223s GBR HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
8 Hiroshi Aoyama +24.108s JPN HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
9 Davide Giugliano +28.072s ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
10 Bryan Staring +34.232s AUS KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
11 Lorenzo Zanetti +34.450s ITA DUCATI PATA Racing Team
12 Leon Haslam +35.648s GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
13 Maxime Berger +36.392s ITA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
14 David Salom +41.500s SPA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
15 Joan Lascorz +42.086s ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
16 Josh Brookes +42.605s AUS SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
17 Leon Camier +43.366s GBR SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
18 Mark Aitchison +45.225s AUS BMW Grillini Progrea Superbike Team
19 David Johnson +1'08.782s AUS BMW Rossair AEP Racing
20 Niccolo Canepa +1'10.440s ITA DUCATI Red Devils Roma
21 Eugene Laverty DNF - 3 Laps IR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
22 Ayrton Badovini DNF - 8 Laps ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
23 Carlos Checa DNF - 17 Laps SPA DUCATI Althea Racing
24 Raffaele De Rosa DNF ITA HONDA Team Pro Ride Real Game Honda

Event results - Round 1 - Race 2

1 Carlos Checa 34m26.728s SPA DUCATI Althea Racing
2 Max Biaggi +5.707s ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
3 Tom Sykes +12.521s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Jonathan Rea +12.655s GBR HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
5 Leon Haslam +18.179s GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
6 Marco Melandri +18.831s ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
7 Maxime Berger +18.939s ITA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
8 Eugene Laverty +19.478s IR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
9 Hiroshi Aoyama +19.554s JPN HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
10 Niccolo Canepa +26.289s ITA DUCATI Red Devils Roma
11 Jakub Smrz +26.479s CZE DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
12 Leon Camier +29.145s GBR SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
13 Davide Giugliano +36.482s ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
14 Lorenzo Zanetti +38.113s ITA DUCATI PATA Racing Team
15 Josh Brookes +43.234s AUS SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
16 Bryan Staring +43.526s AUS KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
17 Raffaele De Rosa +53.929s ITA HONDA Team Pro Ride Real Game Honda
18 Ayrton Badovini DNF - 11 Laps ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
19 Joan Lascorz DNF - 12 Laps ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
20 Sylvain Guintoli DNF - 13 Laps FRA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
21 David Salom DNF - 14 Laps SPA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
22 Michel Fabrizio DNF - 18 Laps ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
23 David Johnson DNF - 18 Laps AUS BMW Rossair AEP Racing
24 Mark Aitchison DNF - 21 Laps AUS BMW Grillini Progrea Superbike Team

Championship standings

1 Max Biaggi 45 pts ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
2 Marco Melandri 30 pts ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
3 Tom Sykes 29 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Carlos Checa 25 pts SPA DUCATI Althea Racing
5 Jonathan Rea 22 pts GBR HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
6 Sylvain Guintoli 16 pts FRA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
7 Jakub Smrz 16 pts CZE DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
8 Leon Haslam 15 pts GBR BMW BMW Motorrad Motosport
9 Hiroshi Aoyama 15 pts JPN HONDA Honda World Superbike Team
10 Maxime Berger 12 pts ITA DUCATI Team Effenbert Liberty Racing
11 Michel Fabrizio 10 pts ITA BMW BMW Motorrad Italia GOLDBET
12 Davide Giugliano 10 pts ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
13 Eugene Laverty 8 pts IR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team
14 Lorenzo Zanetti 7 pts ITA DUCATI PATA Racing Team
15 Niccolo Canepa 6 pts ITA DUCATI Red Devils Roma
16 Bryan Staring 6 pts AUS KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
17 Leon Camier 4 pts GBR SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
18 David Salom 2 pts SPA KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
19 Josh Brookes 1 pts AUS SUZUKI Crescent Fixi Suzuki
20 Joan Lascorz 1 pts ESP KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
21 Raffaele De Rosa 0 pts ITA HONDA Team Pro Ride Real Game Honda
22 Mark Aitchison 0 pts AUS BMW Grillini Progrea Superbike Team
23 David Johnson 0 pts AUS BMW Rossair AEP Racing