Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Jonathan Rea impressively turned from novice to the Brno track on Friday, to race winner on Sunday. The young British rider claimed his first ever World Supersport victory in another tight battle at the Czech track today.
Having started from seventh position on the grid, Rea started well and came through the first round in third position behind team-mate Andrew Pitt and race leader Broc Parkes. Rea and Pitt swapped places on their Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR’s while chasing their way to the front of the field, with Pitt taking the lead in lap four. Due to an error in his braking, Rea was set back to sixth place while Craig Jones took the lead from championship leader Pitt.
A determined Rea managed to regain the lost ground and ready to fight for his maiden World Supersport win. Despite Pitt setting a new lap record in the penultimate lap of the race, Rea maintained station and brought his bike to the highest place on the rostrum for the first time in his World Supersport career.
After the Brno round Andrew Pitt has increased his lead in the standings with 32 points over nearest rival Joshua Brookes while Rea sits fifth.
Jonathan Rea, 1st”I am really happy, to come to a new circuit and to win is a really good result. I wasn’t expecting to win here and was putting all my expectations on Brands Hatch. We knew from yesterday morning’s free practice that we had the pace to run up front and fight for a win.”
”I want to thanks Andrew, we have worked hard together as a team to find a set of tyres that worked for both of us over a race distance. While all the others were going out on a one-lap mission, Andrew and me put a race set-up together.”
“The championship is not all but lost for me now, I just need to start building some momentum with Brands Hatch and Donington coming up. Two tracks I know well and am really looking forward to.”
”I want to thank my crew who have done such a good job this weekend. The bikes were pretty good and we had a good set-up. We are as strong as other bikes and can beat the other machines any weekend.”
Andrew Pitt, 2nd”I am pretty happy with my results today. It’s good for the championship and a great result for the team. Another one-two again for the Ten Kate machines, like we managed before in Assen.”
”For most of the race I tried to stay out of trouble and safe the tyres to the end. I got caught out a little bit on the second last lap but pushed back to third. I feel like I was able to get Johnny somewhere but he put a pretty good last lap together.”
“I’m happy enough finishing second. We tested a lot of long runs in the qualifying sessions and knew what tyres to use. It’s a good result for the team and congratulations to Johnny.”
Ronald ten Kate, Team manager“It was great to see another fantastic race today. It is clearly showing off the hard work we have put in through the qualifying sessions this weekend. We continuously worked on getting our race tyres to perform on the new surface of the Brno track.”
”It is great to see Jonathan claim his first ever Supersport victory here today ahead of the Brand Hatch round. He made a big step forward in the championship, as has Andrew Pitt, who has extended his lead to thirty-two points.”
”Both guys deserve a big compliment for their riding here today, they have shown their true pace in the last round in which Andrew managed to set a new lap record and Jonathan followed closely. My compliments to both riders and their crew for their result this weekend.”
Results Supersport Race:1 J. REA 2 A. PITT 3 J. BROOKES
