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With the first round of the 2005 World Superbike and
Supersport championships just over three weeks away, the Dutch
Ten Kate team continues pre-season testing today (1 February)
at Almeria, Spain with new colours on its Honda-powered
machines.
The team has been joined by Winston as title partner for the
2005 season, during which it will contest both world
championships with a talented four-rider team.
Fellow Australians Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge will
ride the blue Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR in the 12-round
World Superbike championship. Vermeulen scored four wins on
the new Honda during his debut 2004 season, taking him to
fourth place in the championship.
For the World Supersport championship, the Winston Ten Kate
Honda team is joined by Japanese rider Katsuaki Fujiwara and
Frenchman Sébastien Charpentier. The pair will compete on
Honda CBR600RRs with which Karl Muggeridge secured the 2004
World Supersport title, the Ten Kate team's third successive
championship victory.
Roberto Zanni
- JT International - Worldwide marketing and sales, Senior
Vice-President
"JT
International is preparing for its third consecutive year in
world championship motorcycle racing. Following in our MotoGP
tradition, we are entering the World Superbike and World
Supersport championships with our global brand Winston.
Through these projects with the Ten Kate team, we look forward
to strengthening our partnership with Honda. With the talent
and determination of our four riders - who are still on their
way up, even though they have already won two world titles -
we anticipate some great successes. I am certain that the
motivation that has led to the creation of the Winston Ten
Kate Honda project will lead our team to victory, and I take
this opportunity to wish the best to our riders."
Carlo Fiorani - Honda Europe - Motorcycle racing
activities Manager
"Superbike and Supersport represent the ideal formula to
enhance the driving capacities of riders and to demonstrate
the quality of the project of a super sport motorcycle. For
these reasons Honda Europe has been supporting for years the
Ten Kate team and the results have always proven us right. We
think that this year the Winston Ten Kate Honda team, which
has a new important sponsor, four great riders and a high
quality technical support, will surely be one of the leading
teams of the two championships. Good luck to Chris, Karl,
Katsuaki and Sebastian and a special thank you to JT
International and all of the partners which believed in the
project.
Gerrit ten Kate - Winston Ten
Kate Honda team owner
"Since we contested our first world championship season in
1997, Ten Kate Racing has come a very long way. With the
support of Honda Europe, we have won three consecutive World
Supersport championships and our first season of World
Superbike in 2004 gave us four race wins and fourth place in
the series. We have been working hard over the winter months
to improve even further the remarkable CBR1000RR and new
CBR600RR, both of which are already as close to race-ready
production motorcycles as you can buy. We are absolutely
delighted to welcome Winston as title partner to the team for
2005. I am convinced that this additional support will allow
us to reach even higher standards of performance and
professionalism in both world championships".
The three-day test at Almeria (1-3 February) will be followed
by two days at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia (7-8
February), after which the team will prepare for the
international launch of Winston Ten Kate Honda in the city of
Milan on 15 February.
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