Jake Dixon drives HRC forward: From 18th on the grid into the top 9!

Jake Dixon’s Saturday in Cremona got off to a promising start before taking an unexpected turn. In the third free practice session, the Honda works rider finished third. However, following a crash in Superpole, he had to start the first race of the Superbike World Championship from 18th on the grid. Dixon fought his way up to ninth place, overtaking former world champion Alvaro Bautista on the Ducati in the process.

However, when speaking to SPEEDWEEK.com in Cremona, Dixon was keen not to read too much into his position in FP3. “FP3 went well, but I realised that third place wasn’t a realistic reflection of our pace because we were using the SCQ tyre and some of the Ducati riders had opted not to use it,” he explained. “I expected us to finish a bit further back. Nevertheless, I felt very strong.”

Risk of a crash: Honda at the limit with the front tyre

This made the crash in the subsequent Superpole all the more frustrating. Dixon had already experienced a similar incident on Friday, the cause of which was unclear to him. “I’ve had a few strange crashes. My front wheel already slipped out yesterday, and I didn’t understand why. I didn’t feel I’d done much wrong. The data confirmed that,” reported the Briton.

“The front wheel locked up. That’s exactly what happened to me in qualifying at Turn 10. At first I thought I might be able to prevent the crash, but then I was on the ground. We still need to analyse that.”

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What HRC still needs to improve

In the race, Dixon then staged a strong comeback. “I managed the race as well as I could. Starting from 18th on the grid, that was a strong comeback,” he said. “The team provided me with a good bike.” Whilst he was satisfied with the result, he wasn’t yet happy with the handling of his Honda: “I had to pay close attention to the front wheel. So there are definitely areas we need to keep working on.”

Dixon saw particular scope for improvement on the back straight. “One key factor is acceleration onto the back straight. I need to get into a better position there to be able to overtake other riders,” he explained. “I was stuck behind Bassani and Locatelli.” Despite these difficulties, he still managed to secure a top-10 finish after a disappointing qualifying session. Team-mate Somkiat Chantra finished in 13th place.