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HANNspree Ten Kate Honda>> Provisional front row for Rea – Checa fastest ever at Monza

May 08 2009

Ten Kate Racing - Nieuwsbrief

Jonathan Rea grabbed a provisional front row slot for this weekend’s fifth round World Superbike championship races at Monza in Italy by setting the fourth fastest time in today’s opening qualifying session.

While Italy’s Michel Fabrizio took provisional pole position at the historic 5.8km circuit near Milan, Rea’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Carlos Checa, recorded the fastest ever top speed at Monza

The Spaniard recorded an impressive speed of 323.6kph (201.3mph) on his way to setting the ninth quickest lap time today. Ironically, his speed record eclipsed provisional pole setter Fabrizio’s earlier record of 322.7kph, also set on a Honda in 2007.

Jonathan Rea – P4, 1’45.919s
We really tried to concentrate on race set-up this afternoon, using old tyres. We got pretty close to where we want to be and then just popped in a new tyre near the end of the session. I’ve got to say thanks to Ben Spies who saw that I was on a quick lap and made a big effort to keep out of the way! The next lap was going to be quicker, I think, but I came across a slower rider going into Ascari. I had to scrub some speed off pretty quickly and ended up running over the gravel. We’ve still got a bit of work to do but I rode in a good group in the middle of the session there and the pace was OK. I think we’ll want to change a couple of things with the chassis but we’re in a good place.

Carlos Checa – P9, 1’46.140s
Yes, the feeling is OK at the  moment but I am losing some time in turn two and coming out of the Parabolica. It’s quite difficult to get enough grip while still on the side of the tyre and opening the throttle. We are also losing a little in the first sector compared to our rivals but, overall, it’s not so bad. It’s not a difficult circuit to understand but, unlike a lot of teams, we arrived here without testing. We need to find a few tenths and then we’ll be there.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager
That’s quite a positive start to the weekend, especially since we are one of the few teams that have not tested here at Monza already this year. Hopefully we can reap some benefit from the development route we took with the bike before Assen. It’s also a good thing to see that our engines go quite well here, with Carlos setting the highest ever top speed. It’s an inspiration going into the high-speed slipstream battles that we expect to see on Sunday.

2009 World Supeprbike championship, round five – Monza, Italy
Friday qualifying results:
1 Michel Fabrizio (ITA) Ducati 1’45.447s
2 Tom Sykes (GBR) Yamaha 1’45.758s
3 Noriyuki Haga (JPN) 1’45.790s
4 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’45.919s
9 Carlos Checa (ESP) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’46.140s
11 Ryuichi Kiyonari (JPN) Ten Kate Honda Racing 1’46.171s

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.