Jake Dixon “overachieved” for best WorldSBK finish, Jonathan Rea pushes Honda “hard”
Jake Dixon claimed his best WorldSBK result at Cremona and revealed Jonathan Rea is pushing Honda “hard” behind the scenes.
Jake Dixon came into Cremona with only one points finish to show for his injury-interrupted rookie WorldSBK season.
But the Englishman left it with Honda’s best weekend of the season, finishing ninth in race one, repeating it in the Superpole race, then taking advantage of incidents ahead to reach sixth in the final outing.
"Quite a big win"
“It was really good,” Dixon told WorldSBK.com. “I said on Saturday we just needed to get a better grid position to put ourselves in a better position. I was fortunate in the Superpole Race that I was able to get ninth.
“I completely used everything we had underneath us. It feels like quite a big win considering what Honda’s been able to do this year.
“They’re working hard in the background to understand how we can move forward.
“I got a bit lucky in the sense that some people went down, realistically we were probably seventh or eighth. We overachieved on Sunday.”
"Hard and direct"
The former Moto2 title contender added that more developments are in the pipeline to make the Fireblade more competitive, with superstar test rider Jonathan Rea continuing to push Honda ‘hard’.
“The test team have been testing a lot. I know they’re out in the next week or so, just trying to go through some things that I have to wait for,” Dixon said.
“Jonny’s working hard, doing a really good job, and the UK test team are doing an amazing job, and also in Japan they’re doing a really good job.
“Jonny texted me a minute ago, saying it was a really good job and to go step by step.
“He’s been quite hard on them, which is good, because the only way we’ll get stuff done is by being hard and direct.”
Dixon missed the opening five rounds after suffering hand injuries in pre-season testing at Phillip Island, but has now climbed above team-mate Somkiat Chantra as Honda’s leading full-time rider.
He leaves Cremona 19th in the world championship on 23 points, seven ahead of Chantra.
Chantra, who will switch to MotoGP duties at Motegi this weekend, finished 13th in all three Cremona races.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
