Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea has admitted he just couldn't get his Fireblade to work in the drying conditions in World Superbike Superpole yesterday and is resigned to fighting for places at Miller later on today.
The Ballyclare man starts from the fourth row of the grid, right next to team-mate Ruben Xaus, and will have to find a setup in morning warm-up which will give him the corner entry grip he lacked in qualifying.
"I’m very disappointed with that qualifying result because we just couldn’t get the bike working today. We were struggling with grip in the wet conditions, especially on corner entry and when the bike is leant over. It was a combination of problems that included engine braking and clutch, and we weren’t able to get a handle on it," said Rea.
"However, we’re not going to bury our heads in the sand – we’ll go through everything in detail tonight and get a plan together for whatever the conditions are going to be tomorrow. It’s not going to be easy from where we are on the grid but I’m hoping that we can fight for at least a top five placing.
"If the conditions are mixed, then a whole lot of other factors will come into play, so we’ll see how things are in the morning and play it by ear."
