Ten Kate to use traction control at Misano?

After a recent test session at Brno the Winston Ten Kate Honda Superbike squad approaches the halfway point of the 2006 season at Misano with high hopes.

The team's prospects have been boosted by a traction control system, tested for the first time at Brno - and which may be used at Misano.

"We had a very good Brno test where we played with the new electronic system on the bike. We still have to decide if we'll use it for the first time in Misano but so far it looks like we will, as the first impressions have been quite positive," said team manager Ronald Ten Kate. "We also tested many news parts on the bike to further improve chassis set up. We also tried out a lot of tyres and all the work went very well. We proved to be consistently fast, although we didn't work too much on qualifying tyres, mainly concentrated on full race settings like we usually do during testing."

"I like the Misano track although I've had some bad results in the last couple of years there, so I'm looking forward to erasing them with two strong results," said former world champion James Toseland.

After his double podium at Silverstone Toseland is keen to do it all again. "It's a great race track in a great area. It's going to be a good weekend of racing, and my family will come along, so I don't want to disappoint them. Last year I could have won, but I didn't qualify too well and that prevented me from winning. After the Brno test, where we tried lots of new things, I believe we are going to Italy even stronger than before so we will try our best to bring home as many points as possible."

Karl Muggeridge, Toseland's team-mate, is also looking forward to Misano and is feeling fitter now he has recovered from his back injury.

"I'm always happy to go to Misano, it's a beautiful place. The test in Brno was been quite successful for me and I am sure we will carry all the things we learned from the Czech republic to Italy. In the three days of work at Brno we tried many new solutions and they have made us confident for Misano; I am sure we'll have a good couple of rides. My physical condition has also improved and this gives me even more hope for Sunday's races," concluded Muggeridge.