TOSELAND SIGNS FOR WINSTON TEN KATE HONDA James Toseland will ride for the Winston Ten Kate Honda team in the 2006 World Superbike championship after agreeing terms with Gerrit and Ronald ten Kate in Holland last Saturday (22 October). The 25-year-old British rider from Sheffield, who will be renewing his working relationship with Honda after five years with Ducati, was World Superbike champion in 2004 and finished fourth in this year’s series. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “We are absolutely delighted to have secured James’s services for next year’s World Superbike campaign with Winston and Honda. It’ll be our third year in the series and 2006 probably represents our best opportunity to win the title and add to our four consecutive World Supersport championships. Last year was really a toe in the water for us and I think that this year, with a little more luck earlier in the season, Chris Vermeulen would have had a strong chance of winning the title. James fits exactly what we are looking for in a rider he’s young, talented and highly motivated. We are really looking forward to bringing the best out of him and, in the conversations that we’ve had, I can see how eager he is to get on the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade. His career started with Honda and it’ll be good to get him winning with Honda again. I know he will fit into the team extremely well and the guys are really looking forward to working with him.” James Toseland: “It’s sometimes an over-used expression but I’m just over the moon to be riding with the Winston Ten Kate Honda team for next year. It’s been a stressful couple of weeks but now we’ve done the deal I just can’t wait to get on the bike. I’ve had a good five years with Ducati but now I feel I’m really moving onwards and upwards, as well as coming home to Honda. We all saw in last year’s World Superbike debut season for the Ten Kate team that they had a really strong package with the Fireblade that turned them into championship contenders at the end of the season. I’ve watched the bikes on the track this year particularly racing against Karl Muggeridge at Magny-Cours and you can see how much development work they’ve done. Four consecutive World Supersport championships with four different riders show how strong and consistent the team can be. We all know how powerful the Ten Kate engines are and I’m really excited about helping to continue developing the chassis as well. I visited the team’s workshop in Holland over the weekend and it really is very impressive. They’re totally switched on and it’s obvious that they’re doing this to win. I can’t wait to start working with them and I’m very excited about becoming part of that famous Ten Kate racing ‘family’.” James Toseland Date of birth: 5 October 1980 Place of birth: Sheffield, United Kingdom Status: Single Height/weight: 1.75m/75kg Hobbies: training, playing piano Career highlights 1989-1993: Trials 1992: Junior motocross 1994: 125cc Yamaha 1995: Junior road racing championship 1996: British Superteen championship final position 11th 1997: Honda CB500 Cup champion 1997: British Supersport championship (Honda) final position 3rd 1998: World Supersport championship (Honda) final position 18th 1999: World Supersport championship (Honda) final position 11th 2000: British Superbike championship (Honda) final position 12th 2001: World Superbike championship (Ducati) final position 13th 2002: World Superbike championship (Ducati) final position 7th 2003: World Superbike championship (Ducati) final position 3rd 2004: World Superbike championship (Ducati) champion 2005: World Superbike championship (Ducati) final position 4th