Fresh from clinching a breakthrough maiden Yamaha podium at his home round of the World Superbike Championship last weekend, Jonathan Rea made a strong start to round six on Friday after posting the third fastest time at Most in the Czech Republic.
The six-time champion — third in the Superpole race at Donington Park — maintained his momentum to finish as the leading Yamaha rider in free practice, half a second down on title leader Toprak Razgatlioglu, who has won the past seven races in a row on the factory BMW.
Rea was in upbeat mood at the conclusion of day one, which he hailed as “probably the best Friday I’ve had with Pata Prometeon Yamaha”.
The 37-year-old — four tenths behind reigning champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) in second spot — is looking to make further progress this weekend on the YZF-R1.
“We didn’t have any issues today, I was able to go out this morning and really find my feet with the Yamaha R1 World Superbike here,” said Rea.
“It was probably the best Friday I’ve had with Pata Prometeon Yamaha — we didn’t change the bike very much, we just kept working through the plan and I enjoy riding the track here.
“It was a solid day; we just need to keep working on our long-run pace as Pirelli have brought a new prototype SC1 rear. I did quite a few laps on one option but not so many on the other, so we just need to understand which is best, but we still have some margin to improve.
“For me the target is clear again — I want to keep improving my feeling and be more competitive. I’m starting to really understand how the Yamaha R1 works and I’m working hard to exploit its positive points.”
Rea is currently 11th in the Championship after five rounds and is optimistic he can claim another hefty points haul at Most.
“It helps coming off the back of our strongest weekend of the season at Donington,” he said.
“It’ll be nice to see if we can carry on that momentum here at Most.
“All the ingredients are there to have a good weekend.
“It’s important to try and build that momentum, like a snowball, try to build confidence.
“I don’t feel we’re reaching our full performance yet, so it’s quite motivating that we’ve still got a way to go with myself and the bike.”
Saturday’s opening race is at 1.00pm with the Superpole race on Sunday at 10.00am and race two at 1.00pm.
In the British Superbike Championship, Glenn Irwin topped the times in free practice yesterday at Brands Hatch by a tenth of a second from Tommy Bridewell.
Irwin leads reigning champion Bridewell by nine points after five rounds and sealed a double earlier this month at Snetterton in Norfolk on the Hager PBM Ducati. The first race of the weekend at the Kent track is scheduled today for 4.15pm.
Also this weekend, the sixth round of the Ulster Superbike Championship is taking place with the Neil and Donny Robinson Memorial meeting at Bishopscourt in Co Down.
The two-day event gets under way on Saturday with practice from 9.15am followed by a full programme of races including Superbike, Supersport, Supertwin, Moto3/Lightweight Supersport/Supersport 300, Classic, Sidecars, Moto One and Pre Injection.
On Sunday, racing is due to start at 9.30am after morning warm-up with the headline Neil Robinson Superbike and Donny Robinson Supersport races topping a packed schedule.
Meanwhile, Manx rider Conor Cummins will ride for the FHO Racing BMW team at next weekend’s Armoy Road Races in Co Antrim after parting company from Padgett’s Honda during the Isle of Man TT.