Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders, Carlos Checa and Jonathan Rea, along with Ten Kate Honda Racing’s Ryuichi Kiyonari, return to World Superbike action at Valencia in Spain this weekend (3-5 April) as the series heads back to Europe following the opening two flyaway rounds in Australia and Qatar. Despite strong performances in practice and qualifying at the opening two rounds, the results have not been what the team would have wished for and all three riders are seeking results with their Honda CBR1000RRs that will lift them up the championship table. For Checa, the Valencia round represents a home race and the Spaniard will be looking at least to match the podium finish he achieved in race two last season. It will be a Spanish Superbike debut for Rea, who finished sixth in Valencia’s 2008 World Supersport race, while Kiyonari will be looking to improve on the fourth place he achieved in race two at Valencia last season. Jonathan Rea championship position 8th I had a good few days rest after Qatar before getting right back into my training programme. I also went to see my younger brother, Richard, in his first Irish Superbike race at Mondello Park in Dublin I need to watch him or he’ll be after my job! I think we’ve all had a chance to gather our thoughts for Valencia though, and to concentrate on improving our results after a less than perfect start to the season. I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to rely on some better tyre consistency now we’re back in Europe, and that will suit the CBR much better. So, we’ll continue to work hard and I’ll be aiming for the podium this weekend. Carlos Checa championship position 14th I’ve been working hard on my shoulder after spending a few days at my place in London. The shoulder is still not perfect but I’ve been able to do a lot of running and cycling to keep strong. I’m very optimistic for Valencia and hope that we can get a little more performance from the tyres there. I think this is what was causing the problem with the chatter during the races at Qatar, because we didn’t change anything else on the bike after practice and qualifying, when we were near the front. Anyway, we will work very closely with Pirelli to achieve a consistent performance and I will aim for strong results in front of my friends and family. Ryuichi Kiyonari championship position 13th I went back to Japan after the Qatar races and found some time to relax and prepare for this next race. I like Valencia in fact, I like all Spanish circuits and finished fourth in race two last year. But the results this season have not been good enough, even though I was able to match the pace of the leaders in Qatar, so I will be trying hard to get on the podium this weekend. I know that if I get qualifying well and get two good starts, a good result is possible. Ronald ten Kate team manager It has clearly not been a good start to our Superbike season and, although we have shown speed in all sessions, the race results have not been what we were looking for. Valencia therefore takes on more significance for us because we want to show the real potential of the CBR1000RR, so we’ll be looking for some very good results.