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Rea philosophical about Donington disappointment

Even shortly after he had won his first World Superbike race at Misano, with no small degree of aplomb to boot, Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) was already thinking about how to win his next race. For many outside observers, his home race of Donington Park would offer the perfect opportunity to score at least another podium, but for Rea, he knew Donington would be a difficult circuit for his Honda to handle, or one section of it at least.

He proved himself right, despite trying several different set-ups and machine changes, and his raceday was a tough one, finishing seventh and then 15th, after a fall at Goddards in race two.

Rea explained why raceday was so hard in the UK thus: "In the first race we just lost five seconds to Haslam, Shakey and co, and at the end of the race I was five seconds behind. I knew I had to be aggressive in race two and worked early on because I was fifth or sixth when I crashed, I was just trying to do what the guy in front was doing but we obviously struggled all weekend in that last sector, and even in the race I was trying to learn something. I am really sorry for all the guys in the team because we have been around the houses this weekend concentrating on getting the bike to get into the turns nice and smooth, and we just have to accept that it is not a track for Honda to be honest. It's nothing to do with the cambers; it is the first gear corners. When we go places like Brno, or Magny-Cours - except the hairpin corner - it's pretty simple, but all the tracks from here on in should suit the bike, but I was having nightmares about Donington, and rightly so. If you look through any of the timesheets on the weekend I was maybe top five in the first two splits but 15th in the last one. I fell in race two but I got back up to finish the race and score a point. It was the least I could do because everybody has worked so hard in the team and I wanted to show willing. I want to get back to winning ways sooner rather than later."