Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea lead almost the entire three days of testing at Portimao except for the first day that was led by Alstare Suzuki’s Leon Haslam.

In dry and wet conditions over the weekend, Rea and Haslam swapped the fastest laps. Yesterday’s final test day saw Rea’s put in a best lap of 1′42.270 while Pocket Rocket Haslam did a 1′42.557. As a comparison, Ben Spies’ 2009 Superpole was a 1′42.412.

Althea Ducati’s Shane Byrne took third place with a 1′42.887. Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow impressed on Friday but could not better his time and a crash in the afternoon session didn’t help, but his previous times were enough for fourth.

Xerox Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio who was nursing a bad case of the flu all weekend finished fifth with a 1′43.157. James Toseland was down in sixth almost a second slower than Rea.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao Tests - Brit Pack Flex Muscles

Jonathan Rea was once again the fastest rider on the final day of testing at Portimao posting the fastest time of 1’41.7s. Rea’s lap on race tires was almost a second faster than his best qualifying time from the weekend and 0.5s up from Ben Spies pole position.

Max Neukirchner was also back on track today and his best lap was 1’43.5s.

Jonathan Rea:

I just want to say how really, really proud I am of the whole team, who have worked so hard over the last weeks. They’ve gone through this test positively and methodically and got the bike working better. The great thing is that there is still so much potential and that just fills me with confidence for next season. The lap times were coming quite easily and we did all our work on used tyres. Everyone deserves a good rest now before we get back to work in December.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao Tests - Day 2 with rider quotes

Max Neukirchner officially posing for some publicity shots with his new team Hannspree Ten Kate Honda. Neukirchner would later begin the first day of testing the Honda CBR 1000RR Fireblade at Portimao alongside new team mate Jonathan Rea.

This was the German rider’s first time back on track after his crash during the Imola tests back in July.

Continue reading: Max Neukirchner debuts with Ten Kate Honda

The curtain has just come down on 2009 WSBK season on Sunday, but the first day of the official 2010 test got underway today at Portimao.

Not all riders had their transponders on, so the times are unofficial and from some reporters turned time keepers scattered around the track.

Jonathan Rea posted the fastest times in both the morning and afternoon sessions, with a best lap of 1′42″156 (Ben Spies best lap during the race was 1′42″412). Immediately behind Rea was Ducati rider Michel Fabrizio with a 1′42″362, which was also lower than the official record.

Newly crowned 2009 Supersport champion Cal Crutchlow, who was promoted to Yamaha’s Superbike team finished third. This morning he set a 1’44”139 on his first outing with the R1, but binned his bike, but this afternoon did a 1’42”795.

Noriyuki Haga who lost the championship to Ben Spies was fourth, but never dipped below the 1’43 mark.

James Toseland is present at Portimao. The Brit rider who got permission from Herve Poncharal to take part in the test, before the final MotoGP season race at Valencia. Toseland’s fastest lap this morning was 1’46”608 while getting to know the unfamiliar circuit, and this afternoon reportedly posted a best time of 1’43”7.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao Tests - Day 1

Ben Spies put one hand firmly on the title when Noriyuki Haga crashed out on the seventh lap while he was in sixth place in Race 1 at Portimao. Spies won the race and gained 25 points, fifteen more that Haga and needs just a 6th place in Race 2 to win the championship title

Spies won the race from pole position after getting the better of Jonathan Rea and Max Biaggi crossing the finish line with a 1.697 margin over Rea, second, who took advantage of an error by Biaggi. Shane Byrne took for fourth.

Fifth place went to Michel Fabrizio behind Bryne’s private Ducati. BSB champion Leon Camier took sixth on the Aprilia after climbing from 13th on the grid. Seventh went to Carlos Checa with Ruben Xaus on the BMW took eighth and Lagrive was ninth and Matteo Baiocco closed the top ten.

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao Race 1 – Spies wins and Haga crashes

Jonathan Rea edged out Jakub Smrz to take Friday’s provisional pole position at Portimao. Smrz on a satellite Ducati, who lead the first free practice finished second.

Ben Spies jumped up from his 7th place in FP session to take third, just 0.084s from the provisional pole leader.

Carlos Checa went from 6th to 4th, while Shane Byrne, Fonsie Nieto and Max Biaggi also moved up in the grid into the top ten. Noriyuki Haga slipped back from second to ninth place while Leon Haslam closed his session in 10th.

The first ten riders are all in less than five tenths of second from the Ten Kate Honda rider. Sylvain Guintoli who is debuting with Alstare Suzuki was 22nd.

QP1 Results after the jump

Continue reading: WSBK Portimao QP1 – Jonathan Rea takes provisional pole

Ten Kate Honda has officially confirmed that Max Neukirchner, former Alstare Suzuki rider will be joining their team alongside Jonathan Rea.

Max Neukirchner was axed/dumped/let go two weeks ago by Alstare Suzuki due to lingering doubts on his health, but according to the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda press release the German rider was given a clean bill of health by specialists, including a member of the FIM’s Medical Commission, stating that this season’s injuries (Monza and Imola test) represent no barrier to his immediate return to racing.

Neukirchner is expected to take part in the post season test at Portimao October 27-28 on the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade.

The Hannspree Ten Kate team who has decided to down sized their 2010 World Superbike rider line-up from three to two, leaves both Carlos Checa and Ryuichi Kiyonari without rides for next season.

Continue reading: WSBK – Ten Kate Honda confirms Max Neukirchner

Race 1

Ben Spies recovered one point during Race 1 at Magny-Cours. In an exciting last lap thriller, Spies almost lost first place to Noriyuki Haga after a small mistake in the final lap and won by 0.181s. Third went to Max Biaggi, with an Aprilia RSV4 Factory that has made a big step forward from Imola.

Spies lead the entire race from start to finish, with Noriyuki Haga stuck behind Jonathan Rea and Max Biaggi. Rea in a pass, went off line and with a technical problen could not get back into the race letting Biaggi in second place and Haga in third. The Japanese rider took ten laps to get past Biaggi and then began setting his sights on the Yamaha rider, gaining tenths of seconds here and there. Haga gained on Spies and managed to get past the American, but Spies responded and there was no corners or laps left for Haga to try another attack.

Continue reading: WSBK Magny-Cours: Spies wins Race 1, Haga Race 2, Championship to be decided at Portimao

Ben Spies, who is just 3 points behind Noriyuki Haga in the WSBK standings, took his 10th Superpole at Magny-Cours this afternoon.

Spies put in a blistering 1:37.709 in the last stint, breaking the circuit lap record and was the only rider to go under the 1:38 mark. Second went to Jonathan Rea with his 1:38.191 ahead of third place Michel Fabrizio by just 0.005. Aprilia’s Max Biaggi will start fourth on the grid closing the front row.

Row two will be led by Noriyuki Haga in 5th, followed by Leon Haslam and Fonsi Nieto on the Ducati DFX Corse and Troy Corser on his BMW.

Another two satellite Ducati’s with Shane Byrne and Jakub Smrz rounded out the top 10.

Superpole Results after the jump.

Continue reading: WSBK Magny -Cours: Ben Spies rides away with Superpole

Michel Fabrizio took this afternoon’s provisional pole at Magny Cours edging out Jonathan Rea for first place. Rea was followed by Noriyuki Haga and Ben Spies and all four riders were separated by less than 2 tenths of a second.

Carlos Checa was fifth, ahead of Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama, who may be headed to the British Superbike Championship next year. Jakub Smrz and Fonsi Nieto on private Ducati’s finished eighth and ninth respectively, just ahead of Max Biaggi, who suffered a fall with his Aprilia early in the session and managed to finish in tenth place.

Leon Haslam was in 11th after being second in the first free practice, ahead of Karl Muggeridge who is subbing for Max Neukirchner in Alstare Suzuki.

Continue reading: WSBK Magny-Cours: Michel Fabrizio on Provisional Pole

Jonathan Rea on his Honda Ten Kate lead the first session of free practice at the Magny-Cours track, followed by Leon Haslam on a sister Honda. Rea set a hot lap of 1.39.984 taking the top stop. Third went to Noriyuki Haga who was a little more than three tenths of a second from Rea.

Fourth to Rea’s team mate Carlos Checa. Fonsie Nieto on the Ducati DFX Corse was the most surprising during this session having lead the most of the later part of the practice, finished fifth. Michel Fabrizio was sixth, followed by Ben Spies who’ll be heading to MotoGP next year and Max Biaggi, was eighth.

All eyes were on wildcard rider, BSB Champion Leon Camier who was debuting on the Aprilia RSV4-Factory. The English rider was 17th after his first hour on the bike.

First free practice results after the jump.

Continue reading: WSBK Magny-Cours : Jonathan Rea leads 1st Free Practice

Ducati Xerox’s Michel Fabrizio took his first ever pole position for tomorrow’s two World Superbike races at Imola. Fabrizio snatched the pole position from Ben Spies on his final lap and in the dying seconds of the session, with a 1.47.735 just 0.043s ahead of the Yamaha rider.

Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea will start from third position tomrrow ahead of Noriyuki Haga who completes the first row.

Jakub Smrz leads row two, leaving Aprilia’s Max Biaggi behind by half a second. Shane Byrne took seventh and an amazing Marco Simoncelli was eighth. The Italian rider taking part in his first ever Superpole. Troy Corser was 9th barely beating out Leon Haslam, who closed the top ten.

Michel Fabrizio:

“I’m really happy, I wanted this Superpole at all costs, and it’s even more satisfying to get it at home. Maybe I should only do the Italian championship as I got my first win at Monza and my first pole here! In any case tomorrow it’ll be a great battle between us young guys, because our race pace is pretty similar, so I feel sure we’ll have some fun tomorrow.”

Continue reading: WSBK Imola - Fabrizio steals Superpole