HARRIS AND REA ON A HIGH
16 June 2004 - Honda Racing

Karl Harris and Jonathan Rea approach the seventh round of the British Supersport Championship in superb form. Harris won his third race of the season at Thruxton to regain the lead in the 13-round championship, while Rea clinched his best result of the campaign by finishing sixth.

Defending champion Harris has already been embroiled in a season-long battle with Michael Laverty. The HM Plant Honda Racing rider has been playing catch-up after crashing out of the second round at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit in April. The gritty 24-year-old Yorkshireman will be hoping for better luck on his preferred Grand Prix circuit this weekend.

Harris has been in dominant form following his only non-points-scoring event of the year. A run of four podium finishes – including race wins at Oulton Park and Thruxton – have elevated the Honda CBR600RR rider to the top of what has proved to be one of the most consistently competitive forms of motorsport in recent years.

Harris’ Red Bull Rookies Honda team-mate Jonathan Rea is following suit after being sidelined through injury earlier in the season. The talented 17-year-old Ulsterman – still only in his second season of road racing – has fought back to achieve his first top ten finish of the season at Thruxton. Sixth place was a just reward for one of the most spirited performances of a relatively short career.

Rea has jumped to 15th in the championship standings and is only 14 points off the top ten. Like Harris, the Ballyclare rider crashed out of contention at the earlier Brands Hatch event – ironically while he was disputing a top six finish. Now that he has achieved that goal, Rea will be hoping to improve his position in the series by putting together a string of top ten results.

Karl Harris: “It’s good to have the championship lead back and the plan is to carry on as usual at Brands. I want to be fastest all weekend and then get a good start and stay out of everybody’s way.

“I crashed out of the lead on the Indy circuit last time but that won’t happen this weekend. There could be a bit of a dust-up with Michael Laverty and some of the other Honda CBR600RR riders but I’ll do my best to leave them to fight it out for the other two podium places.”

Jonathan Rea: “My confidence is definitely on a high after Thruxton. I’d been digging myself into a hole and going round in circles with my settings, so I really needed to get a result like that to prove to myself that I had it in me. It was probably the best race of my life and I think the struggle I had to stay ahead of the pack really brought the best out of me. I was really happy with the result and glad that I could give the team something back for all their hard work. But I know the best is yet to come.

“We started running a slipper clutch at that round and it really suits my style. It’s made a massive difference and the Red Bull Rookies Honda CBR600RR now feels like my bike. I love the Brands GP circuit and it’ll be really good to race there. If I stay relaxed, work hard in qualifying and get away with the leaders, I should be on for a good result.”

www.honda-racing.co.uk

More News
  For June 2004
  From Honda Racing
  For Racing General
  Biker247.com Home Page