Pata Honda Team Manager Ronald Ten Kate is quite happy about the season so far and he has praised the work done by Honda and the Dutch-based squad to make the new CBR1000RR Fireblade SP a bike capable of winning races, despite all the development that had to be done on the electronics side of the bike: “Our package has become stronger and stronger this year, it’s still a learning curve for us because once again we moved to a new electronics package. I hope we can hang in for the championship fight until the end, I believe the last part of the season is going to be strong for us.”
Jonathan Rea has stepped atop the podium four times so far this year, with a double taken at Imola last May. The Ulsterman is still in the title fight despite a significant 64 point gap to the top. Leon Haslam, on the other hand, is still looking for his first podium finish of the year: “We have seen Leon building speed upon speed and we really hope to have him on the podium before the end of the season, which I believe it’s a realistic goal now. We hope Jonathan can stay in the title battle until the last round. It’s been a tough season for many teams and riders consistency wise, so I think this is the real key to success this year.”