Rea heads damp warm-up as Honda show pace

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Jonathan Rea led a Kawasaki Racing 1-2 in morning warm-up ahead of Sunday’s two World Superbike Championship races as inclement weather threw a curve ball into proceedings at Imola.

The Ulsterman ran out a dominant winner in race one aboard the ZX-10RR and continued to show fine form on a slippery surface as the only rider to go beneath two minutes in the short session with a 1m 58.703s lap.

Putting him 1.4secs clear of the opposition, team-mate Leon Haslam headed up that challenge somewhat surprisingly from privateer Honda rider Alessandro Delbianco, who catapulted to third best in the closing stages.

Though the Fireblade contingent is down to two bikes following Leon Camier’s withdrawal, Ryuichi Kiyonari emphasised the Honda’s apparent abilities in the wet with the sixth best lap in a result that will likely have the struggling Moriwaki Althea team doing a ‘rain dance’ this morning.

Not that it will likely need to, with the ‘chance of rain’ at Imola coming in no lower than 95 per cent between 11am and 4pm according to forecasts indicating a guaranteed two wet races.

Elsewhere, Pata Yamaha duo Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes filled the positions between the Hondas in fourth and fifth, with Michael Ruben Rinaldi and championship leader Alvaro Bautista in eighth.