REA AND AOYOMA POISED TO GO FOR EARLY SEASON ADVANCES IN ITALY

2012-03-27 05:31
Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) will start the second round of the 2012 FIM Superbike World Championship season looking for his first podium place on the new Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade, on Sunday 1 April.

Rea, who scored the most recent of his eight career wins so far last year at Imola, has already got good points on the board this season after a seventh and then a fourth place at round one. He sits fifth overall in the standings on 22 points, with a long season of 13 rounds and 26 individual races still to go.

Jonathan has a fast team-mate to join him in the push towards greatness in production-derived racing, Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team). He will have his second outing in the Superbike World Championship class this weekend coming, after securing two top ten finishes at Phillip Island in round one.

Hiroshi was familiar with the Phillip Island circuit before he approached round one in February, but has never raced at the Parkland circuit in the centre of Imola before. He will be looking to secure two more strong points scores, before he and Rea take part in a Pirelli tyre test on the Monday following race weekend. They will both also test at their designated test track of Assen after the Imola outing, in readiness for the third round of the championship in the Netherlands on 22 April.

Lorenzo Alfonsi (Pro Ride Motorsports Honda) has been signed by the Pro Ride team to complete the remaining rounds of the season, after the departure of Raffaele De Rosa. Alfonsi, a former Superstock champion, is ready for his first race on home soil, as he steps back up again from national racing.

Imola is a circuit very much of the old school, located inside a public park on the fringes of the city of Imola. Many chicanes have been added to the once super-fast circuit since its inception, but the impression is still one of high-speed corners flowing quickly into the next section. The riders get little rest at Imola. There are also frequent and occasionally mighty changes of elevation as the track wends its way past private houses and public spaces.

Some of the most memorable moments in SBK history have played out around the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, including race wins for Honda riders Colin Edwards, Chris Vermeulen, Alex Barros and only last year in race one, Jonathan Rea.

Source: Honda Pro Image

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