Jonathan Rea took fourth and ninth place finishes in today’s two tenth round World Superbike championship races at Silverstone in the UK. The races were won by two French riders, Loris Baz and Sylvain Guintoli, as Rea’s Honda World Superbike team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama also finished in the points.

The changeable weather was always going to play a big part in today’s racing and it duly intervened early in the first 18-lap encounter, which was red-flagged after two laps when rain began to fall.

Rea got away well in the restart but ran wide on to the grass at turn five on the opening lap, re-joining the race in last position. However, the 25-year-old fought his way back through the field to battle for the race win, eventually crossing the line in fourth place as he tangled with Ayrton Badovini, both crashing unhurt immediately afterwards.

The start of race two was delayed at the end of the warm-up lap and then declared wet, as rain threatened the 5.9km Silverstone circuit once more. On the re-start Rea had climbed to a top ten position from 13th place on the opening lap when the heavier rain arrived. He crashed at turn one on lap nine but remounted as other also riders crashed out, causing the race to be red-flagged at the end of the lap.

After several minutes of confusion because the race had not reached two thirds distance, the result was declared on a two-lap count-back, with half points awarded – Rea in ninth place and Aoyama 14th.

Jonathan Rea – 4th and 9th

Race one was just crazy but I enjoyed it because I knew it would be tough to race for a win, but we genuinely had a shot at it there! I got a bit wide at turn five on the first lap and the rear came round when I hit the kerb and I was dead last. But I never gave up and it was nice to be in the hunt for the win until the last corner, which gave me motivation for race two. That was really strange starting on full wets when the track wasn’t completely wet – it was difficult for everyone though. I was looking after my tyre at the beginning, which is why I was so far back, but when the monsoon came I started to push a little bit. My crash, like pretty much everybody else’s out there happened on the rear tyre, which had no grip. There have been so many crashes in the wet like that this year - off the gas, at the apex – it’s getting a bit frustrating. Overall, we took points out of the championship leaders, so it’s not been a bad job today. To come away with a fourth and a ninth is better than I expected last night, so we’ll take these results and move on.

Hiroshi Aoyama – 13th and 14th

The races were made a little bit complicated by the weather and we started the first race with slick tyres like everybody, but in the middle of the race we got some rain. It got quite difficult when the rain was heavier, but in race two we started on rain tyres and there was no water! This was also critical, then in the middle of the race there was too much rain and everybody started to crash. In some parts of the track there was fuel or oil and it was very, very slippery. I tried to stay on the bike and finished 12th but, in the end, the result was confirmed as 14th, which was a pity. The feeling was not so bad in the wet and the dry and for the next race we got to a new racetrack in Moscow, which I look forward to.

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

It’s been quite a hectic day thanks to the varying weather conditions. Race one was difficult and wet in the end, but it was incredibly exciting. At the end it started to rain a bit more and Jonathan moved to the front and was battling for victory, but ended up fourth, so well done to him. Hiroshi was quite fast in the beginning and at the end, but lost a bit of time in the middle. Race two was wet and Hiroshi didn’t have enough pace. Jonathan was moving towards the front before he crashed. The race was red-flagged soon after and they went two laps back for the result. A fourth and a ninth is not so bad after all because we struggled quite a bit in the first two days.

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