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HANNspree Ten Kate Honda>> Supersport squad confident with Friday performance

May 08 2009

Ten Kate Racing - Nieuwsbrief

Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s World Supersport championship pairing of Andrew Pitt and Kenan Sofuoglu declared themselves satisfied with progress after today’s opening free practice session at Monza in Italy. With series leader Cal Crutchlow topping the time sheets, Pitt and Sofuoglu set the eighth and ninth fastest times – separated by just nine thousandths of a second - as they prepare for Sunday’s fifth round race at the historic 5.8km circuit.

With a further free practice session tomorrow morning, followed by a 45-minute qualifying session to determine the grid for Sunday’s 16-lap race, the Ten Kate duo are confident of further improvement in both times and grid positions tomorrow.

Andrew Pitt – P8, 1’51.920s
We’ve made a step forward with the engine but there’s still a bit of work to do on the balance of the CBR600RR, which has probably just a little too much weight on the front at the moment. The good things is that we found that issue early and we’ve definitely got a direction to follow tomorrow, which is very positive. We need to do some more laps tomorrow to fine tune everything and the front is still pushing a little. But I only used one tyre for the whole of that session and did three longer runs – the hand that got damaged in Assen feels brand new.

Kenan Sofuoglu – P9, 1’59.929s
I have to admit I am a little surprised at my position here because I love Monza and I am usually quite fast here. The speed of the bike has definitely improved, so I am very happy about that, but we’re going to have a long meeting tonight to find out which way we must go to find a better set-up. The bike is not performing that well under braking and there is quite a lot of braking here, so we definitely need to do some work on that.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager
We’ve definitely found a good direction with machine set-up – although there is still some work to do, everything seems to be pointing in one direction. That’s definitely a relief after the complex issues we had in both Valencia and Assen. We also seem to be back on track speed-wise, with both Andrew and Kenan heading the top-speed chart.

2009 World Supersport championship, round five – Monza, Italy
Friday free practice results:
1 Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha 1’50.594s
2 Joan Lascorz (ESP) Kawasaki 1’50.605s
3 Mark Aitchison (AUS) Honda 1’50.749s
4 Fabien Foret (FRA) Yamaha 1’50.934s
8 Andrew Pitt (AUS) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’51.920s
9 Kenan Sofuoglu (TUR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’51.929s

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.