HANNspree Ten Kate Honda's Jonathan Rea (Photo: Honda Pro Images)
Jonathan Rea powered to the best time at the end of the three-day Infront Motor Sports official Superbike test session at Portimao in Portugal. The Northern Ireland youngster’s time of 1 minute 42.270 seconds was quicker even than Ben Spies’ 2009 pole mark for Yamaha.
The battle between Rea and his fellow-Brit Leon Haslam, who had been quickest on day 1, continued right until the very end, the Suzuki Alstare man ending up three-tenths behind. British rider domination continued with Shane Byrne taking his private Althea Ducati 1098 to third place in the timesheets, and with Cal Crutchlow, one of Yamaha Sterilgarda’s two new 2010 signings, in fourth.
In the final stages, after most of the top riders had used their soft tires normally reserved for Superpole, Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) found himself in fifth place with a time of 1’43.137 ahead of former double world champion James Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda), who returns to Superbike after a gap of two seasons.
Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) was the only one of the leading runners not to go out on softer rubber and the Italian finished the test in seventh place with a time of 1’43.364, just ahead of 2009 runner-up Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox), forced to slow with a technical problem during his quick lap.
Jonathan Rea: “This test was a lot of fun, we worked through everything methodically and we are in good shape to begin the season. We got most of the big things like suspension spec, linkage and swing-arm teed off so now we can go to Phillip Island and fine-tune our racing. To say we are ready to go racing at Phillip Island, we’re not sure about that, but the bike is ready and now I plan to put the next three or four weeks to good use with my trainer and hopefully I’ll be ready. We’re all excited about the prospect of racing for a world championship.”
