Gino Rea’s bid for glory in the opening WorldSSP round at Phillip Island lasted half a lap as he was wiped out by Robin Mulhauser’s errant Honda on the exit of Siberia and couldn’t make the re-start.
Gino qualified well on the Go Eleven Kawasaki and looked to have strong race pace, finishing 5th during Sunday mornings warm up session. A good performance in morning warm-up meant the Londoner was eyeing a podium challenge when disaster struck after just six corners.
Gino Rea #4 (WSS race; DNF): “I’m really gutted for Team Go Eleven. We have all worked extremely hard during the practices to develop the bike and this showed by our constant progress. After finishing 5th in the warm up on a used tyre I was confident on challenging for podium positions. Unfortunately I got a really bad start and then Mulhauser highsided in front of me and I collided with his bike and took a big tumble. I’m lucky my outcome wasn’t worse but I’m frustrated I put myself in that position with my bad start. We’ll be working hard again in Thailand to make up for this weekend.”
Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager): The first round of the World championship did not disappoint the expectations, and is always very nice Racing here. We are very sorry for Gino Rea, had worked hard on the race pace, we were fast also with finished tires and certainly a place on the podium would have been for him, to miss this opportunity for a mistake not yours, leaves always a great regret."
