Van der Mark talks about his new Supersport challenge
Michael van der Mark, the young uprising star of the Netherland's motorcycle racing, is one half of the new Pata Honda World Supersport Team's line up. He will contest, on-board the CBR 600 RR, his first full season in the series - set to start on February 24th at Phillip Island - with the most winning squad in the history of the competition.
The 19 years old rider from Gouda made his debut in the championship as wild card last year with the Nieuwleusen based team, an unfortunate appearance as van der Mark broke his left collarbone after a crash he had during free practice 2 at the Moscow Raceway. Despite the setback, he was able to quickly recover and to clinch a well-deserved European Superstock 600 title at Magny-Cours, after a thrilling final race of the season.
'I'm really excited about this new challenge ahead of me' said van der Mark. 'Not so long ago being in the World Supersport Championship was just a dream but here I am now, finally my time has arrived! It's a very high-contested series and I had a little taste of it last year in Moscow. It's amazing how close the competition is, so it won't be easy but at the same time I can't wait to start.'
It didn't take too much time for him to feel at ease with the WSS-spec Honda, as the Dutch rider showed an impressive speed in the Team's late November test at Jerez: 'I got a good feeling with the bike straight away during the last test, everything felt the right way and all the changes we made worked fine. I already feel the CBR 600 RR as my own, even though it has a lot more power compared to the Superstock 600 version I rode in the past two years. We played a little bit with the electronics and made some small adjustments, but I have to admit that the base setup was OK.'
Van der Mark might be a newcomer in the Supersport World Championship, but a lot of expectations are already on him. 'I don't feel any extra-pressure coming from the 2012 European Superstock 600 title win' he admits. 'I always want to do my best and to race as good as possible. My goal is to improve steadily during the course of the season and to fight with the front runners when the time comes.'
