Jonathan Rea approaches the ninth round of the 2009 World Superbike championship at Donington Park, UK, with extra confidence this weekend (26-28 June) after his stunning debut win in last Sunday’s second eighth round race at Misano in Italy. Hailing from Larne, just north of Belfast in Northern Ireland, Donington Park represents Rea’s home race and, with only one British round in this, his debut World Superbike season, it will be, for many, the only chance to see the 22-year-old ace in action in the UK this year. In recent weeks, Rea has been working hard with his Hannspree Ten Kate crew to continue development of the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade a programme that included a switch to Öhlins suspension last weekend. His team-mate, Carlos Checa also posted positive results at Misano last Sunday and, although admitting that Donington Park is not his favourite track, the Spaniard is confident of transferring the improvements in his racing package into results at the 4.023km Leicestershire circuit. Jonathan Rea I think the changes we’ve made since Valencia and the development with the CBR1000RR that we’ve followed for the last few races were demonstrated quite well in Misano. Of course, it felt amazing to get that first win under my belt and I think it all bodes well for the remainder of the season. To be honest, I’ve never set the world on fire at Donington, but it was that same at Misano before I went there last week so I hope it’ll be good. We need to keep making progress to have a good Friday and Saturday to set us up for the race on Sunday. I hope it’s good racing, too, because the British fans will only get one World Superbike meeting this year. We’ll just try to make more progress with the new suspension. The wet setting in race one at Misano wasn’t spot on, so we’ll need to find something there if the forecast is anything to go by. Carlos Checa Donington is not my favourite circuit, I must admit, but we will try our very best to make it enjoyable! We made some good improvements at the weekend in Misano and Johnny showed with his win in the second race that the package is getting very strong now. Every part of the circuit at Donington is very important not just the fast part, or the slower part the whole lap, including the up and down parts, needs to be just perfect. So we will work very hard on the set-up of the CBR to get some more good results for the team. The weather is very important I believe so I hope it stays dry. Ronald ten Kate team manager Yes, our development of the current Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade continues. It was very much a case of work-in-progress at Misano but I think we all could see that we made a big step forward. Going into his home race at Donington with his first win already under his belt will hopefully motivate Johnny and not put too much pressure on him. But Donington has been kind to us in the past and Carlos’s bike also showed a big improvement last weekend so we hope to get him on the podium again in the UK. We’re still on a high after last weekend’s performance but we’re also realistic and know that we must work harder than ever to maintain this momentum that we have. More, from another press release issued by Ten Kate Honda: Ryuichi Kiyonari is preparing for round nine of the 2009 World Superbike championship at Donington Park, UK, this weekend (26-28 June) and aiming to recreate the spectacular victory that he achieved at the Leicestershire circuit last September. In appalling conditions, Kiyonari impressed many with a stunning display of wet weather riding during qualifying and followed that up with a victory in the second race around the 4.023km Donington circuit. His victory came on the back of a double win at Brands Hatch a month before and the Japanese ace has been on the podium twice so far this season. However, he is now seeking consistency during the second half of the season to move up the championship table. Ryuichi Kiyonari I hope for the same result as last year at Donington, but I don’t mind if the weather is wet or dry as long as I can go faster! I think we made the wrong tyre choice in Misano and Sunday seems to be the day when we have problems. In the last two races, we have had good pace on Friday and Saturday but then have problems or bad luck on Sunday. I will try the new Ohlins suspension on Friday and compare the data to see the best way to go for me. But this weekend, I know we have to work even harder for a good result on all three days. Ronald ten Kate team manager We will bring some new suspension parts to Donington for Kiyo to carry out some back-to-back tests as the other riders did at Misano. We know that Kiyo can be fast at this track so it will be a good comparison. Hopefully it can bring a step forward similar to the one we saw in Misano last weekend. At the moment, the weather forecast doesn’t seem to be in our favour but things can change very quickly and we know we have a good package. We all remember the ‘Kiyo Slide Show’ from Donington last season and, hopefully, we can see him on the podium again this weekend. More, from another press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s World Supersport championship duo of Kenan Sofuoglu and Andrew Pitt are looking to bounce back in style at this weekend’s (26-28 June) ninth round encounter at Donington Park in the UK. Pitt crashed out of the lead of last weekend’s race at Misano, Italy, while his Turkish team-mate, Sofuoglu, also slid out of contention, having just moved into a podium position. It was a disappointing end to the Italian race weekend after the team had begun a switch to new suspension components during a test at Magny-Cours the previous week. However, mixed weather conditions at Misano made it difficult to get a perfect race set-up. The team knows well that the 4.023km Donington Park’s weather can be equally fickle, but with Pitt scoring second place in an all-Honda CBR600RR podium at the corresponding round last September, hopes are high in the Ten Kate camp of further success this weekend. Andrew Pitt Misano was what it was. We had to take a gamble on set-up going into the race because we had new suspension parts, but practice and qualifying was a mixture of wet and dry. It just showed how difficult it can be when you’re testing during a race weekend. I got a good start in the race, but had to push to stay in front because there’s no point in running around for fifth or sixth place any more. The championship might be a long shot, but we’ve got to go for wins and that’s what I’m looking forward to doing again this weekend. Kenan Sofuoglu I was very disappointed with the result from Misano. Qualifying was difficult and it was not good having to test new suspension in the wet and dry conditions that we had there. I still have third place in the championship but we have to win more races now and I think the recent development of the bike can help us do that, as we showed with the win in America. With the new suspension we have a chance to push for more wins and that’s what we’ll be trying very hard for at Donington. Ronald ten Kate team manager After running a mixture of old and new suspension components last weekend in Misano, the Donington package will be fully Ohlins which we hope will make our jobs a little easier. Until the riders’ disastrous exits from the Misano race, we had been making good progress, in spite of the weather not being too kind. But we know that we are still very capable of winning when we get it all together.