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HANNspree Ten Kate Honda>> Rea and Checa aiming for top honours in USA

May 29 2009

Ten Kate Racing - Nieuwsbrief

Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders, Jonathan Rea and Carlos Checa, head to Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, USA this weekend (29-31 May) for round seven of the 2009 World Superbike championship.

It will be Rea’s first race in the US in this, his rookie Superbike season, but the 22-year-old from Northern Ireland is in a rich vein of form currently; two top five finishes in round five at Monza, Italy were followed by his first WSBK podium last time out at Kyalami, South Africa, where Rea finished fourth and third in the two races.

Checa will be revisiting happy memories of the 4.9km Miller circuit, near the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The Spaniard scored an impressive double win in last season’s two races, his first and, to date, only WSBK victories.

Jonathan Rea – championship position 5th
It’s been nice having a few days at home since Kyalami, getting back into my routine which tends to get knocked out a bit when we’re on the road. I spent last weekend watching my brother Richard race at Mondello Park near Dublin, where he nearly won his first Irish Superbike race! I’m really looking forward to this trip, though – there’s something about going to a new circuit that gets me really motivated There are no negative thoughts to take with me to Miller. In fact, after Carlos’s double win there last year, it’s only positive. I’ll do a couple of laps with the team and try to pick up some tips from local riders. We’ve being doing pretty well in the last five races and I think the whole crew deserved that podium at Kyalami – but we’re here for more than that. I feel that it’s time to step up to the plate in the second half of the season and keep up the momentum we’ve found since Valencia.

Carlos Checa – championship position 10th
Everything has been good since Kyalami. I came to California at the weekend and I have spent some days with Wayne Rainey, who I have known for a long time; it’s been good to relax with him again. We’ve had a few problems this season – it started with a shoulder injury and there have been some small issues with the bike. However, we approach the halfway point of the season and we bring some positives from Kyalami to Miller. Of course, Miller was good last year but I prefer to look forward and the circuit should allow us to put the CBR near the front again. I like left-handed tracks and we have some good data from last year. The Ducatis will be strong and so will Ben Spies, but I think we should be in a good position, too, and we will be going for a good result.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager
I think it’s fair to say that both Jonathan and Carlos are on the up again after a difficult start to the season. We’re looking to make another step forward at Miller where Carlos has some good memories of a double win here last year. But that was last year, and we’re going to be focusing all our efforts on the upcoming weekend to make it happen again. With all the development we’ve done over the past few weeks, I strongly believe we can get some good results at Miller. That ongoing development is teaching us new things race-by-race and we’ll be implementing those recent findings this weekend.

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.