leaving some top names and
some new names up front.
Josh Brookes was on potent
form in the wet for his Milwau-
kee BMW squad, and could
have won if it had stayed wet.
He changed his tires as the
track dried, fell soon after, and
no-scored. But his team took a
step up this weekend in gen-
eral.
Making his tire change at just
the right time, Jonathan Rea
piled in with another 25 points in
race two. His teammate Sykes
had pitted, asked for an interme-
diate front and a slick rear but
a miscommunication saw him
on two inters, and struggling
with rear grip as a result. He still
finished only 2.442 seconds
behind Rea, his recovery from
a race-one nightmare almost
complete.
Michael van der Mark's great
progress in race two, with a
nearly well timed change of tires,
saw him claim a podium, delight-
ing his Sunday home crowd.
Added to Hayden's first race po-
dium it proved Honda was back
after a tough Aragon weekend.
Another great ride from Lo-
renzo Savadori saw Aprilia take a
season best fourth in race two,
pushing Savadori into the title
top 10.
Davies was fifth, losing ground
again to Rea at the top of the
table after his first race runner-
up spot.
Hayden placed sixth, after
what was a slightly mad race
as the conditions changed
throughout.
"The whole weekend has
been a good learning experi-
ence for sure. Except here,
I would have maybe rather
learned at another track – we
know that our bike goes well
here, it's a good track for our
bike so I would have rather had
to learn this at another track.
Nonetheless a third and sixth, by
far the best weekend I've had in
Superbike. Better be happy and
move on."
Rea set a 1:37.7 near the end
to show just how dry the track
had become.
In the championship Rea has
181 points, Davies 136, Sykes
122 and van der Mark 90.
Hayden is up to fifth with 67.
Gordon Richie
IN
THE
WIND
P42
It's been a while,
but Nicky Hayden
finally got on the
podium.
