Date : 27/06/2010
Weather : Dry, sunny
Temperature : Race 1 - Air 27°, Track 40° / Race 2 - Air 29°, Track 47°
Humidity : Race 1 - 44% / Race 2 - 45%

Rea fourth in the championship after challenging Misano weekend

The return to racing in Europe did not prove to be a happy homecoming for the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team and its riders Jonathan Rea and Max Neukirchner, with each rider finding chatter holding back their raceday efforts.

During the eighth round of the championship, at a hot Misano World Circuit, Rea posted 13th and 12th place finishes, dropping one place in the overall ranking to fourth, on 158 points. Neukirchner was one place from Rea in race one, and two behind in race two, 14th each time.

Max Biaggi won a double again, and extended his championship lead to 37 points over Leon Haslam, 307 points to 270. Carlos Checa was a podium man in race one, and is now third, on 172 points.

Rea started from only 16th on the grid after a disappointing Superpole, but was up to sixth after one lap of race one, dropping back as his grip dropped off. In race two he had an early moment mid pack and lost time, once more slowly dropping back despite fighting for each position.

Neukirchner improved on his qualifying performance of 17th in each race today, but had to wait until his bike set-up began to work on worn tyres to push to the maximum. Both he and Rea lost their front mudguards in race two, after contact with other riders.

ECHO CRS Honda’s Broc Parkes felt unlucky to have been disqualified for jump-starting after not obeying the ride through signals in race one. In race two he stuck to his task despite suffering chatter like his fellow Honda riders, finishing 17th.

Round nine of both WSB and WSS championships takes place at Brno, Czech Republic, on July 11.

WSBK Rider Quotes

Jonathan Rea, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: 13th and 12th  - 4th overall.
“We still have a lot of problems with chatter, although we have made quite a few changes over race weekend. It’s unbelievably frustrating to be held back by this problem when it wasn’t that long ago that we were winning together. We have a test at Imola next week and Brno will be a new race weekend. We will start afresh there with an open mind. But it is hard to see positives in this weekend.”

Max Neukirchner, Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: 14th and 14th  - 17th overall.
“It’s been the same problem for me this weekend. My starts were OK but when the front tyre was new and gripping better, the chatter seemed to be worse. It meant that I nearly crashed a few times. It improved a little as the grip went down, but by then it was too late to do very much about my positions. We’ve got lots of work to do at the test this week to try to improve things.”

Broc Parkes, ECHO CRS Honda: Disqualified and 17th  - 24th overall.
“I was pretty upset about the first race because we got penalised for a jump start but I was last into the first corner and didn’t take any advantage. I hopped forward but I came back again. I felt pretty good in race two but we have struggled again and I am really looking forward to testing at Imola this week. We need to do something new in development and I have some things I want to try.”

Pole position : 1m35.001s (160.141Km/h) Troy Corser, BMW
Fastest lap : Race 2 - Lap 4 - 1m36.579s (157.579Km/h) Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha
Circuit record lap : 1m36.579s (157.579Km/h) Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha, 2010
Circuit Best Lap : 1m35.001s (160.141Km/h) Troy Corser, BMW, 2010