Rea ninth fastest in Phillip Island practice
Added on Friday, February 25th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor
Rea ninth fastest in Phillip Island practice
Jonathan Rea posted the ninth fastest time of the day in Friday’s free practice, putting the Castrol Honda rider in confident mood that he will be ready for this weekend’s WSB Australia opener.
Rea took part in Friday practice at Phillip Island, just three days after coming off his bike in a 130mph crash at the same venue, and looks set to race this weekend following a top ten time in the first part of Friday practice.
The Northern Irishman sat out the second session to preserve his weekend tyre allocation but was upbeat about his chances this weekend.
“I think the most important thing is that the Clinica Mobile guys have patched me up really well,” he claimed. “My back and neck are really sore today, but the heavy strapping on my left wrist seems to be fine on the bike.
“This morning we worked through race distance on a potential race tyre and we continued that this afternoon. But when we threw in the new bigger shape tyre, which was working really well on Tuesday, the track temperatures were too hot so it wasn’t any better. So, rather than burn another tyre from our allocation and burn valuable energy at this point of the weekend, we sat out the session.
“To be top ten after the first day and to have another 36 hrs to get stronger for Sunday makes me really optimistic. The bike’s working great and is really fun to ride and I have no confidence issues after the crash on Tuesday. When I was lying in hospital on Wednesday and the doctors were talking about keeping me in another night, I never even thought I’d be on a bike this weekend. I’d like to say a really big thanks to everyone who’s got me to this position, and for me to be putting in good lap times on old tyres is really down to them.”
