Ten Kate: "I hope we can stay in the title fight until the end"
The Pata Honda Team Manager predicts a strong final part of the season.
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.”
