Fighter Rea 4th at Aragon

CIA LANDLORDS INSURANCE HONDA’S Gino Rea battled hard to secure fourth place at the third round of the World Supersport Championship at Aragon in Spain. Starting from seventh, Gino dug deep in the last two laps to hold on to fourth from a hard-charging Lorenzo Zanetti.

Gino said: “I am a bit frustrated as I know we are capable of a lot more. As soon as the tyre dropped off, I didn’t have the pace to go with the leading group.

“When I was behind Smith I had too many moments with the rear breaking loose. I had to be a bit smart and was glad to hold on to fourth from Zanetti. It is not the position that frustrates me; rather knowing we were capable of being closer to the front three. I think we can improve our setting more and will go to Assen looking to get back on the podium.”

There is no break for CIA Landlords Insurance Honda as the team travels directly to Assen in Holland for the fourth round of the Championship next Sunday, April 19th.

CIA Landlords Insurance Honda Team Manager Simon Buckmaster said: “That was a good ride by Gino, fighting to hold off Zanetti. His foot is not fully healed and as a team we need to find the last little bit to get to the front. It’s been a good job by the CIA Landlords Insurance Honda team this weekend.”

Race result, Aragon 2015

1: K Sofuoglu

2: P Jacobsen +3.224

3: K Smith +5.695

4: G REA, CIA LANDLORDS INSURANCE HONDA +11.281

5: L Zanetti +11.334

6: A Baldolini +16.639

Championship positions

1: K Sofuoglu 55

2: Jacobsen 42

3: Wilairot 36

4: G REA, CIA LANDLORDS INSURANCE HONDA 35

5: Zanetti 31

6: Smith 29

More, from a press release issued by Pirelli:

The British riders, with Pirelli SC1 compound solutions in Race 1 and SC0 in Race 2, are the protagonists of the eni FIM World Superbike Championship Spanish weekend

Jonathan Rea on Kawasaki and Chaz Davies with Ducati entertained the fans at Aragón winning one race each. The medium SC1 compound tires were selected by the Supersport riders and the Superbike riders in Race 1, with an increase of temperature in Race 2 making the standard SC0 the preferred solution

Alcañiz (Spain) – For the first European round of the eni FIM World Superbike Championship, Pirelli reconfirmed the excellent performance provided by the DIABLO™ Superbike and DIABLO™ Supercorsa range tires.

In fact, in the top class basically all the riders successfully used all the solutions Pirelli brought for this round. Unlike past years, this year the temperatures were much milder than previous years and from Friday, especially in the morning, the asphalt never even made it to 68 degrees Farenheit.

Precisely for this reason today in Race 1 and in the Supersport race the riders wisely opted for the medium hardness and SC1 blend rear solutions. In particularly the new T1392 SC1 development solution was quite popular on the rear which, compared to the standard SC1, demonstrated that it is able to provide more uniform and consistent performance for the entire race length. On the front as well, both in Race 1 and in Race 2, the most popular choice was the S1699 SC1 development solution. In Race 2, with the tarmac temperature rising from the 64°F that were measured in Race 1 to 91°F, a situation was created that suited using the softer blend of the range, the SC0.

In Race 1 the Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils standard bearer, after taking pole position on Saturday, was unable to maintain the race pace. In fact, Leon Haslam was scorched at the start by Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team). The English Kawasaki rider and 2013 world champion took the lead in the first lap followed by Davies, Rea and Haslam. On the eighth lap Jonathan Rea executed a move on Davies, moving into second place behind his team mate. In the next lap Xavi Fores on his Ducati managed to overtake Leon Haslam, temporarily taking fourth place, whereas in the tenth lap Dutch rider Michael VD Mark was forced to withdraw due to a technical problem with his Honda. The race got exciting in the twelfth lap when Jonathan Rea closed the gap more and more on Tom Sykes and tried unsuccessfully to overtake him a couple of times, a feat he finally achieved on the following lap. On the fourteenth lap Ducati rider Davies also managed to overtake the English Kawasaki rider and give pursuit to Jonathan Rea. In the last four laps Davies steadily closed the gap behind Rea and in the last lap he made several attempts to overtake, but the Northern Irishman hung on and crossed the wire first. In the end it was yet another all-British podium with Jonathan Rea first, Chaz Davies second and Tom Sykes, who also had the race fast lap, third. Pole man Leon Haslam had to settle for fourth place.

Between Race 1 and Race 2 of the top category the Supersport World Championship race is held. Frenchman Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) got off to a great start from pole position, staying in the lead. Behind him, in the second lap, the American Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) overtook Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). During the third lap first Jacobsen and then Sofuoglu overtook Cluzel but the Frenchman was having none of it and before the end of the lap he took back second place and began to hunt down the American. But at the end of the fourth lap Sofuoglu executed an overtaking move on the Frenchman and regained second place. The MV Agusta French rider was certainly not going to rest on his laurels and in the sixth lap he overtook first Sofuoglu and then the race leader, who was overtaken immediately thereafter by the Turkish Kawasaki rider as well.

In the seventh a heated battle for first place began until the MV Agusta French rider was forced to withdraw due to a problem with the bike at the beginning of the final stretch on the eleventh lap, putting a bow on the race win for Kenan Sofuoglu on his Kawasaki, as well as the top spot in the championship standings. An excellent second place finish went to Patrick Jacobsen and third to Kyle Smith (Pata Honda World Supersport Team).

It was time for Race 2 where many of the riders, practically everyone on the first three rows, changed the rear tire, putting on the standard SC0 soft solution. Chaz Davies started well, overtaking Leon Haslam straight away and moving into the lead with Jonathan Rea following suit and also overtaking the Aprilia rider behind the English Ducati rider. In the fifth lap one of the protagonists of Race 1, Tome Sykes, fell victim to a bad crash which ended his race. The top three positions were established as the race finished in favor of “Ducatista” Chaz Davies, who rose to the top step of the podium, followed under the wire by Jonathan Rea in second and Leon Haslam in third. This is also Ducati’s first win in 58 races. In fact, their last win was brought home by Sylvain Guintoli in 2012. This places the Northern Irish Kawasaki rider securely in the lead of the overall championship standings with 120 points, followed by Leon Haslam with 114 and Chaz Davies with 83. As for the manufacturer standings, Kawasaki is in the top spot with 140 points, followed by Aprilia at 114 and Ducati at 95.

In the first race of the 2015 Superstock 1000 FIM Cup season the riders were able for the first time to use the DIABLO™ Supercorsa SC1 blend tires on the rear, combined with the SC2 on the front. In fact, up to last year for the rear the only available solution was the SC2.

The race started with a crash involving various riders just after the start, but then the positions stayed basically the same for the entire race. In the end it was Roberto Tamburini (Team Motoxracing) who crossed the wire first, coming out of the last turn in the final lap to overtake Lorenzo Savadori (Nuova M2 Racing) who, after starting from the number one spot on the grid, had managed to hold onto it for the entire race. Behind them it was Kev Coghlan (MRS Yamaha) taking his Yamaha YZF-R1 2015 on its maiden run to complete the podium, occupying the bottom step.

The weekend on Spanish soil also had the Superstock 600 class making its début with a double round, one race on Saturday and one on Sunday. In yesterday’s race eighteen year-old Turkish rider Toprak Razgatioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), won ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (San Carlo Team Italia) and Federico Caricasulo (PATA-Honda Junior Team).

In the second race, held today, it was once again a battle between Rinaldi and Razgatioglu for the entire race until Rinaldi crashed out in the last lap. So it was a double win for the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Team Turkish rider who was followed under the wire by Federico Caricasulo (PATA-Honda Junior Team) for second place and German rider Gauthier Duwelz (MVR-Racing) for third.

The day ended with the European Junior Cup, the championship for young motorcycle talents, with the first race of the season being won by Javier Orellana.

Comment from Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Moto Racing Director:

“This year Aragón proved to be a circuit where there can even be quite cold temperatures. Not that this took us by surprise though, because in any case we had expected this possibility and we covered all our bases by bringing SC1 compound solutions that allowed us to provide good performance even with the 64°F tarmac temperatures in Race 1 and in the Supersport race. In fact, since usually in 90% of the Championship rounds the most used rear solution, and therefore also the one that we know best is the SC0, in this case we were able to check the quality of SC1 blend solutions as well. For us this is very important because, especially in Supersport where both on the front and on the rear the riders mostly used the standard SC1, it shows how our racing product range has truly reached excellent quality and performance standards. We are also pleased with the development solutions, particularly the new T1392 which showed, at least in this race, that it can offer something more compared to the standard solution. This year the Superbike Championship is starting to look like a dispute between British riders, at least judging from the results of the first three rounds. We’ll see how the situation progresses when the championship starts to heat up. For the moment my congratulations go to Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies who rode Ducati to their first win after 58 top category races without the first step of the podium. Tom Sykes and Leon Haslam also did a great job, contributing to the exciting races we watched in Superbike, and Kenan Sofuoglu in Supersport, Roberto Tamburini in Superstock 1000 and the promising Toprak Razgatioglu in Superstock 600 also did very well, as did all the other winners of the day.”

The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders:

At Aragón both the Superbike and the Supersport riders opted for medium SC1 blend solutions, both standard and development, on the front and the rear.

Specifically in the top category on the front almost all the riders chose the S1699 SC1 development solution which was introduced for the first time right here at Aragón last year and which was then the most used front solution throughout 2014.

On the rear the new T1392 SC1 development solution was also the preferred option for Race 1 because it better suited the late morning weather conditions, but in Race 2, with the temperatures rising, most of the riders preferred using the standard SC0 solution which was able to provide more grip than the SC1.

In Supersport at the rear all the riders, considering the quite low temperatures, opted for the standard SC1 solution, making the same choice for the front where the standard SC1 was preferred by 2/3 of the riders on the grid, whereas the remainder went with the S1485 SC1 development solution.

Pirelli Best Lap Award:

In the first European round the usual “Pirelli Best Lap Awards” were also assigned. These are awards that the tire manufacturer assigns to the riders who have made the fastest lap in Superbike race 1 and race 2, as well as the Supersport race during the press conference that follows the podium ceremony at the end of the races.

The Superbike and Supersport rider who has earned the most “Pirelli Best Lap Award” titles at the end of the season will be elected “Best Lap Winner: fastest rider of the year” and awarded in the usual end of year ceremony.

These are the riders who won the Pirelli Best Lap Awards in the third round of the season:

WSB Race 1 – Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), 1’50.890 (2nd lap)

WSB Race 2 – Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team), 1’51.156 (4th lap)

WSS – Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres), 1’54.605(2nd lap)

The 2015 Pirelli statistics for the MotorLand Aragón round:

• Total number of tires Pirelli brought: 4644

• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class:5 front and 7 rear

• Number of tires available for each Superbike rider: 34 front and 37 rear

• Number of solutions for the Supersport class (dry, intermediate and wet): 4 front and 5 rear

• Number of tires available for each Supersport rider: 22 front and 25 rear

• Temperature in Race 1: air 53.6° F, asphalt 64.5° F

• Temperature in Race 2: air 64.5° F, asphalt 90° F

• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tires: 193.4 miles/h, by Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) in Race 1 and Race 2 at 1st lap and by Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) in Race 1 at 7th lap

• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa tires in Supersport: 171.2 miles/h, Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) at 2nd lap.

More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:

TOUGH WEEKEND FOR TEAM SUZUKI EUROPE AT ARAGON

Team Suzuki Europe faced an uphill battle and suffered some bad luck that resulted in injury to team rider Nigel Walraven at the opening round of the European Supertstock 1000 Championship at Motorland Aragon in Spain at the weekend, but the Dutch-based team is confident of better fortune this coming weekend.

The Motul-sponsored team had to change most of settings on the GSX-R1000 machines from data acquired at the recent Aragon test due to new regulations using different Pirelli tyres that meant the team mechanics, Hoegee Performance Tuning and the K-Tech suspension specialist had to work hard to get the Suzuki, the Yoshimura ECU, Tsubaki chain and the TRW brakes dialled-in to the new-specification rubber. Then after making a strong start from 24th on the grid to 14th in the first corner, Walraven was hit by another rider and pinned underneath his machine. He was airlifted to Zaragoza Hospital where an MRI scan revealed a haematoma is pushing on the nerves in his back and requires bed rest this week.

Tessels started the opening race from 25th, dodging the first corner accident and eventually finished just outside the points in 18th. The 2014 Superstock 600 Championship runner-up was still suffering the after effects from inuring his knee at Donington Park in the UK the previous week, but is hopeful of being fit for this coming weekend’s second round at Assen in The Netherlands.

The team is not sure at this if Walraven will be joining him for the event.

Marc Hoegee – Team Manager:

“This was a very tough weekend and we worked really hard to make progress. We knew Wayne’s knee was a problem, but during the practice sessions all went well. The start from both riders was incredible, but Nigel’s crash was bad. Wayne gave all he had and I’m very proud at what he achieved. Now we’ll focus on next weekend in Assen.”

Wayne Tessels:

“I looked forward to this first race, on the same circuit where I finished on the podium last year, although I knew this weekend wouldn’t be easy with such very strong competition. During the practice sessions I didn’t quite have the feeling on the front of the bike that I need to fully make use of the corners. But we’ll continue working with the team to find a solution so we can take-up the battle again next weekend. My knee is troublesome with riding and this had its influence in my position on the bike, but this will improve in time. This coming weekend is at Assen and I’m determined to show what we’ve got.”

Nigel Walraven:

“My start was phenomenal, because I overtook three-rows of riders and got to 14th position. But then someone crashed into me on the inside and another riders hit me from behind. I couldn’t do anything, fell off and got a bike on my back. I went by helicopter to Zaragoza hospital and got an MRI. It seems that a haematoma is pushing on the nerves in my back, so I have to lie down for 24 hours and evaluate then, but I’d like to thank the medical staff on track and at hospital for the excellent care.”