Points for Dixon and Chantra in a very positive Race 1 at Cremona
Cremona CircuitHonda HRC scores a strong result with both its riders in the first of the Italian WorldSBK races at Cremona.
Honda HRC riders Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra have completed a very solid first WorldSBK race day at Italy’s Cremona Circuit, with both riders scoring points in Race 1.
The day got off to a positive start with warm, sunny conditions for the morning’s practice and with both Honda HRC riders making significant progress during this final preparatory phase. Dixon was particularly impressive, setting a 1’27.937 to finish the session third fastest, while Chantra also made a good step to place eleventh with a best of 1’28.406, shaving almost a second off his previous best.
Unfortunately, Dixon was unable to fully capitalise on that potential in the subsequent Superpole session. An early crash interrupted his first run, and although the British rider was able to return to the track for a second run in the final minutes of the already brief 15-minute session, he could not replicate the strong lap time he had set in FP3. A 1’28.755 ultimately put him eighteenth on the grid, just behind Chantra, seventeenth with a 1’28.678. Not the result the Thai rider was looking for either, but several yellow flags in the final minutes hindered his progress.
When Race 1 got underway, Dixon made an excellent start and was already up to eleventh by the end of lap one. After losing one position in the early stages, Jake worked his way back through the field, passing Manzi and Gardner before moving up into ninth. From there, the Honda rider maintained a strong pace and spent much of the second half of the race challenging Bassani for eighth. In the closing stages, Dixon also came under increasing pressure from Bautista but defended well to secure ninth place across the line. Today’s result marks Jake’s strongest race performance so far this season.
Somkiat positioned seventeenth in the early stages but was able to move into the points zone by the mid-race point. Despite not feeling totally comfortable with the front of his bike, Chantra focused on managing the situation and maintaining his position. In doing so, he was able to climb another two positions through the central phase to reach thirteenth and then successfully held this position to the line, matching his best result of the season so far and collecting three more championship points.
Honda HRC will conclude the Italian WorldSBK weekend on Sunday, lining up for the Superpole Race and the second and final full-length race.
“Unfortunately, I made a mistake in qualifying, so first I want to apologise to the team because they’ve given me a great package this weekend with which to fight around sixth or seventh position. Starting so far back, I gave myself a lot of work to do in Race 1, but I did the best I could. I had a little more pace, but I just couldn’t get past Bassani and Locatelli. It was frustrating because I had better pace, but in the one area where I needed to be strong to make a move, I wasn’t strong enough. I tried everything, but towards the end I also had to fend off Bautista. It was a fun race though, coming from where we did, and I enjoyed it. Tomorrow in the Superpole Race it will have to be full attack mode because we need to try to get into the top nine so that we can start further forward in Race 2. Let’s see what we can do.”
“Unfortunately, I made a mistake in qualifying, so first I want to apologise to the team because they’ve given me a great package this weekend with which to fight around sixth or seventh position. Starting so far back, I gave myself a lot of work to do in Race 1, but I did the best I could. I had a little more pace, but I just couldn’t get past Bassani and Locatelli. It was frustrating because I had better pace, but in the one area where I needed to be strong to make a move, I wasn’t strong enough. I tried everything, but towards the end I also had to fend off Bautista. It was a fun race though, coming from where we did, and I enjoyed it. Tomorrow in the Superpole Race it will have to be full attack mode because we need to try to get into the top nine so that we can start further forward in Race 2. Let’s see what we can do.”
“Today was a challenging one for me. In the last twelve laps of the race, I struggled with the front closing quite a lot, so I tried to control the bike, maintain my position and make it to the end of the race. We understand what happened today, so we will work on the setup and try to fix this for tomorrow. Hopefully we can improve and have a better day.”
“Today was a challenging one for me. In the last twelve laps of the race, I struggled with the front closing quite a lot, so I tried to control the bike, maintain my position and make it to the end of the race. We understand what happened today, so we will work on the setup and try to fix this for tomorrow. Hopefully we can improve and have a better day.”
