Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea could not emulate his podium success from race one in the final World Superbike outing of the day at Assen ending race two in fourth place. The Isle of Man resident could not compete with the fellow British rider Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes or Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty, due to issues with electronics, mistakes and a change in tyre compound

But It was the 30th World Superbike podium for the 26-year-old from Northern Ireland and his sixth at the TT Circuit, having taken at least one rostrum finish there in each of the last four years. With Rea’s team-mate, Leon Haslam, watching the races from his hospital bed after breaking his left leg in a practice crash on Friday, Rea was the only Pata Honda rider contesting today’s two 22-lap races at Assen.

The Honda rider was pleased that he made it on to the podium earlier on in the afternoon, but some mistakes in the second race meant he was battling with other riders on the grid for that coveted third spot on the podium.

“It was kind of typical Assen we got on the podium, which was good. In race one I rode really good but just had nothing for Sykes. In race two I was feeling quite good in the beginning but it was a little bit my fault that we couldn’t be on the box. I lost too much ground in the early laps, making mistakes, and then got involved in a battle for third with two other guys. It was clear that I didn’t have the acceleration off the small corners and where I was really strong in race one, in the back section, in race two I had too much electronics interference,” said Rea.

Rea will now test with his team at Assen on Wednesday and Thursday next week, before heading to Monza in Italy for round four. During testing the rider hopes improvements can be made to his machine.

“There was a little bit of inconsistency and we’d changed tyres, and it was clear that the tyre in race two was spinning more. I know we’ve got more power than this but it’s impossible to accelerate like the others so we need to find some kind of compromise in the early corner exit area to make the power more manageable. It’s lucky that we have a two-day test to do that on Wednesday and Thursday before we go on to Monza where speed’s very important.

“A two and a four this weekend is not a win like Assen should be for me, but we’ve got to be satisfied. We’ve come from a long way back and the championship position is looking a bit more healthy than it did after Aragon so I guess I’m satisfied with the weekend.”