News

The four-man Hannspree Ten Kate Honda World Superbike and World Supersport championship squad completed a two-day test at Assen in Holland yesterday ahead of next week's eighth round races at Misano in Italy. It was the first track outing for the Ten Kate riders since competing at round seven of the 2010 championships at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City in the USA at the end of May.

Jonathan Rea was almost fully recovered from the severe tyre burns he sustained in a qualifying crash at Miller and found himself quickly back up to race pace at the Assen circuit where he enjoyed his first World Superbike pole position and a maiden double race win in April. For Max Neukirchner, the Assen test provided a pressure-free environment in which to try to eliminate the chatter problems that have plagued him in recent weeks.

Meanwhile Kenan Sofuoglu and Michele Pirro used the Assen test to try new a new electronics package on their Supersport CBR600RR machines.

Ronald ten Kate declared: "We've had a very worthwhile two days at Assen where it was good to get the wheels rolling in Europe again after the last two flyaway rounds. We experienced some problems at Miller so we needed some track time to test a few things on the bikes. It's been hard work for the riders and the crew but we've been able to try a few things on Jonathan's side and we've definitely made a step forward with Max. We're looking forward to Misano now, which is the first track of this season where we have some Ohlins data. On the Supersport side, we did a lot of work on the electronics, particularly in the areas of power delivery and traction control. We matched the race pace from Assen but it was incredibly windy on the second day. We'll head to Misano next week to try and keep Kenan in his winning ways and to get Michele back on the podium at his home race."