Rea 5th, Haslam 11th for Team Pata Honda in Qualifying for Assen Round of eni Superbike World Championship

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assen - Netherlands    26.04.2014                 Superpole hopes dashed by Assen shower This afternoon’s second Superpole session was dramatically affected by a short rain shower as Pata Honda riders Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam fought for final grid positions in tomorrow's two third-round World Superbike races at Assen in the Netherlands. The Superpole 2 competitors, including both Rea and Haslam, had just completed an initial flying lap on race rubber to get a good feeling for the 4.542km Assen circuit and had entered the pits to switch to Pirelli qualifying tyres. As they got up to speed, the rain effectively aborted the fast laps of both Rea, who finished fifth fastest and starts from the second row, and Haslam, who was 11th. Pole position was taken by Loriz Baz, who managed to complete his own lap before the rain fell. Tomorrow’s forecast is for further rain during tomorrow’s two 21-lap races at Assen, the first of which goes at 10.30 local time, the second at 13.10. Jonathan Rea  - P5, 1m35.361s Superpole was strange because, just as we changed for the qualifying tyre, the rain came and only two riders were able to complete their laps. We didn’t really get the chance to show our full potential but we did a lot of work this morning on our race set-up with the option tyres. We’re satisfied with our pace but we’ll just have to see what the weather brings because it’s forecasting changeable conditions. The bike is working really well and we’ve got on top of our engine braking issues. Our speed is fast, but we need to be a little more consistent when the tyre drops. Obviously it would be better for everyone if it stays dry tomorrow because all the set-up work has been done in the dry. But, if it’s wet, it’s the same for everyone. We have an OK wet set-up after we did some work in Jerez, but what will be will be. The aim to is to get a good start tomorrow and go with the front group and then to see what that brings us.  Leon Haslam  - P11, 1m36.284s We tried three different race tyres today, concentrating on the harder options more than anything. They don’t feel too bad but we’re just lacking a little bit of pace. I think we’ve got a good step to try with our engine braking in the morning and I’m quite happy with the chassis settings that we’ve had today. I was confident going into Superpole this afternoon but we just got caught out by the rain, like a lot of people, and I didn’t get a chance to use the Q. We’ve been working on a dry set-up all weekend so, if it’s wet tomorrow, it’ll throw another spanner in the works. It’ll be the same for everyone either way, though, so I’ll just get my head down. Pieter Breddels  - technical co-ordinator We got caught out by the weather this afternoon after Jonathan had done a 35.3 on his race tyre. He went out on a qualifier but it started to rain so that ended his mission to park it on the front row. He still got the second row, however, and his race pace is pretty good. In normal, dry conditions, and also in the wet, I think he can fight for the podium so we’ll see what the weather brings.  Leon had some problems finding a good setting here at Assen and his grid position is not what we expected. We still have work to do to see if we can improve things in tomorrow’s warm-up and hope he can have a couple of good races. Weather Dry / Wet Air 18°C Track 20°C Humidity 55%   Qualifying Results - Results   1   Loris Baz 1m34.357s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team 2   Sylvain Guintoli 1m34.845s FRA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team 3   Tom Sykes 1m35.311s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team 4   Marco Melandri 1m35.333s ITA APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team 5   Jonathan Rea 1m35.361s GBR HONDA Pata Honda 6   Davide Guigliano 1m35.476s ITA DUCATI Ducati Superbike Team 7   Niccolo Canepa 1m35.500s ITA DUCATI Althea Racing 8   Eugene Laverty 1m35.646s IRL SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki 9   Alex Lowes 1m35.684s GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki 11   Leon Haslam 1m36.284s GBR HONDA Pata Honda   Copyright-free images © 2014 Pata Honda