The second round of the SBK world championship at Losail in Qatar was a disappointing one for the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team, whose results failed to live up to expectations.
Not one of the three riders managed to step onto the podium and this was telling evidence of the current form of the Dutch team.
The best results came from Ryuichi Kiyonari, with an eighth and a fourth place. In particular in race 2, after changing his rear tyre from the first race, the Japanese rider had a good run to fourth, just a fraction away from the podium. Carlos Checa had a good race 1, the Spaniard finishing in fifth, but after the break problems with chatter did not allow him to move up any higher than 13th. As for Jonathan Rea, a 12th and an eighth place were all that he could manage after two difficult races.
Ryuichi Kiyonari: "In race one I had a very bad start and had to push hard at the beginning. After that it was difficult to keep the lap times. We changed the tyre for race two and things felt much better, but, again, I had to push very hard and was maybe a bit too aggressive with the throttle at the beginning, trying to catch the leading group. When I reached Biaggi, I didn't have enough left to get past him. I hoped he might make a mistake to let me on to the podium, which would have been the best reward for my team who have worked so hard. But it didn't happen, so I had to accept fourth place".
Carlos Checa: "I had quite bad chatter again in race one. We thought we had eliminated this problem after Phillip Island, but it was back and gave me quite bad arm pump. Unfortunately, it was even worse in race two and I also had a bad start which meant I had to try to pass many other riders. With the problems we had, I didn't really have the confidence to push as hard as I wanted. We'll work on everything before we get to Valencia and hope for better things there".
Jonathan Rea: "Today has been one of mixed emotions - in fact, it's been quite a weird weekend. We were right up there on Friday and Saturday morning, but went the wrong way and Superpole was not good. So, we went back to Friday's settings for the races today and I got a pretty good start in the first one, but got bad arm pump. The guys in the Clinica Mobile sorted it out for race two and everything felt much better; but from 17th on the grid, I couldn't quite catch the leading group so I had quite a lonely race. I had one or two moments with the front, but I'm happy with the way I rode and I'm looking forward to Valencia now."