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HANNspree Ten Kate Honda >> Rea and Checa take renewed confidence to Assen

April 23 2009

Ten Kate Racing - Nieuwsbrief

Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders, Carlos Checa and Jonathan Rea, head to Assen in Holland this weekend (24-26 April) for round four of the 2009 World Superbike championship looking for improved results.

The pair struggled last time out at Valencia in Spain but the Dutch-based team has been working around the clock since then, looking for ways to improve the power delivery of the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade.

Jonathan Rea undertook a brief test session at an oval circuit near the team’s base and declared himself happy with the work undertaken and confident of an improvement in performance at Assen, which is just 50km north of the Ten Kate squad’s Nieuwleusen workshop.

The historic circuit – known as ‘The Cathedral’ – has hosted world championship motorcycle racing since it began in 1949, although it was originally a street circuit. It underwent a significant redesign in 1955 and then again in 2006, shortening to its current length of 4.55km.

Jonathan Rea
After what’s been a sluggish start to the season, we needed to look at making some changes to the bike to improve the feeling. The guys have found some pretty positive developments back at base and I was able to try them out last week. The feeling with the throttle is much better now and that was the main area of concern. Assen is a great place, for a number of reasons, and I got my first podium with the team there last year. The circuit should suit the bike better than Valencia anyway, and we’re all in a really positive frame of mind, so I’m really looking forward to the weekend.

Carlos Checa
I wasn’t able to test the improvements to the bike but we have had some detailed discussions and I’m happy with the developments that the team has made. There are one or two other additions to the bike for this weekend and I’m confident that what we have planned should work well at Assen. Like a lot of other riders, I prefer the old layout of the circuit, but it’s still a nice track and I was on the podium twice last year, so it’s a great place to have the team’s home round. I was at the workshop for an open day last weekend and, if the weather is as good as it was then, it should be a great event.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager
We’ve been working very hard since Valencia to find a good feeling for the riders when they open the throttle. I think we now have a much better connection – we made a small test last week and Jonathan’s reaction was really positive, so we’ll take it to Assen with some confidence. To be honest, this is not a small step; it’s quite a considerable change to the bike, both mechanically and electronically. But we’re really positive that it will bring the results that seem to have eluded us so far this season.

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda is sponsored by Hotbodies Racing and uses our windscreens and bodywork on all of their bikes. Hotbodies Racing specializes in manufacturing high-performance parts for high-performance sportbikes, and is the North American distribution of KR Tuned performance parts. Hotbodies Racing is the market leader in Undertails, Huggers, Windscreens, Flush-Mount Signals, Megaphone Exhausts and full-race Bodywork. Hotbodies Racing supports the sport with sponsorship around the world and encourages dealer and distributor inquiries. For more information visit: www.HOTBODIESRACING.com.