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The Winston Ten Kate Honda team left the Ricardo Tormo circuit
in Valencia,
Spain early this morning, one day ahead of schedule after
heavy rain prevented any further testing of the team's 2005
Honda CBR machines.
Only superbike rider, Chris Vermeulen, and Katsuaki Fuijiwara
of the supersport team took to the circuit yesterday (Monday)
in cold and damp conditions.
"It's unfortunate," commented team manager, Ronald ten Kate,
"but we can do nothing about the weather. There is a silver
lining in these clouds, however, in that we can have an extra
day to prepare everything for
Qatar."
The team will spend the next few days loading almost eight
tonnes of equipment into 15 crates that will be shipped to
Qatar early next week in preparation for a further test at the
Losail circuit in Doha on 19-20 February, followed one week
later by the first World Superbike and World Supersport
championship rounds.
"We have been able to do further shakedown tests on Chris's
and Kats's second bikes to ensure everything is working
properly but there was no possibility of fully testing any new
components," added ten Kate.
"We always have to balance the benefits of testing against
risk," he concluded. "So, after the team launch in
Milan next
Tuesday, we fly straight to Qatar where we will hopefully get
some dry track time at last!"
2005 WORLD SUPERBIKE AND WORLD SUPERSPORT
CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR
February26
Qatar Doha/Losail
April 3
Australia Phillip Island
April
24 Spain
Valencia
May 8
Italy Monza
May 29
Great-Britain Silverstone
June 26
San Marino Misano
July
17
Czech
Republic Brno
August 7
Great-Britain Brands Hatch
September
4 Netherlands Assen
September 11
Germany
Eurospeedway Lausitz
October
2
Italy Imola
October 9 France
Magny-Cours
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