Gagne caps successful WorldSBK homecoming with ninth place in Laguna Seca Race 2

Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team rider Jake Gagne scored a career-best ninth place in Race 2 at Laguna Seca while Leon Camier fought back from an early crash to recover to P13 and secure valuable championship points.

After claiming his first ever WorldSBK top-ten finish in Race 1 yesterday, Gagne lined up in P15 for today’s race and in carbon-copy style to yesterday, showed great pace in the early laps on his CBR1000RR SP2.

Gagne worked his way up into the top ten by lap five and maintained a strong pace throughout the second half of the race, bringing his Fireblade over the finish line with an emphatic wheelie in ninth place.

For Camier, it was another frustrating race with the Briton crashing at turn 2 on the third lap, however he recovered brilliantly to catch up to the pack and made several passes to ultimately finish in the points in P13.

With five rounds remaining in the 2018 WorldSBK season, Camier is twelfth place on the championship table with 75 points while Gagne is in seventeenth place with 37 points.

The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team will next be in action at the Pirelli Riviera di Rimini round at Misano Circuit from July 6-8.

Credit: Red Bull Media Team

Roads campaign for Honda Racing gets underway at the North West 200

Honda Racing, along with riders Ian Hutchinson and Lee Johnston, are getting ready to head to The International North West 200 next week (15-19 May), as they kick off their road racing campaign aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2.

With some uncertainty over Hutchinson and if he would be able to race, following an accident at last year’s Isle of Man TT where he broke his left leg, the ‘Bingley Bullet’ was back on two wheels with the Honda team last Friday (4 May), after having his external frame removed and being passed fit to race by the ACU.

Looking comfortable on the Fireblade and completing over 78 laps of Mallory Park, Hutchy and the team returned over the Bank Holiday weekend to take part in the East Midlands Racing Association club meeting, in order to obtain race signatures for his TT course licence. With the aim to race in Northern Ireland next week, Hutchy will be checked over by the NW200 medical team before heading out on the 8.970-mile circuit for first practice.

Meanwhile teammate Johnston has enjoyed an extensive testing programme with the team and the CBR ahead of his racing debut with the squad. Feeling confident with the Fireblade package for the roads, ‘The General’ is looking forward to getting to ‘The Triangle’ for one of the fastest road races in the world.

NW200 Race Schedule:
Tuesday 15 May
0915-1500 Practice

Thursday 17 May
0915-1500 Practice
1700-2100 Evening racing

Saturday 19 May
0915-1900 Race day

 

Credit: Media Team @Honda Racing CBR, follow @HondaRacingCBR on Twitter.