Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Two more years for Rea with Ten Kate
From worldsbk.com
Jonathan Rea and his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team have agreed renewed terms to keep the 22-year-old on a Honda CBR1000RR in the World Superbike championship for the next two years.
The partnership was confirmed a year ago at Vallelunga in Italy when Rea moved up from the Ten Kate team's World Supersport effort to a fully-fledged debut World Superbike challenge. However, this new agreement, which runs until the end of the 2011 season, is seen as a fine-tuning of that earlier arrangement.
With three rounds to complete in the 2009 championship, Rea sits in fourth place in the points table, with two wins and a further three podium finishes to his name. In his rookie year and as the youngest World Superbike competitor, the Northern Irishman is also the highest-placed Honda rider.
"As everyone knows, we started this season pretty slowly and I take my share of the blame for tha! t," Rea said. "But I think we've shown that we have been able to turn the Honda CBR1000RR into a race-winning package in the face of some stiff competition. Now the challenge for me is to help to turn it into a championship-winning package.
"I'll admit that I've had some flattering distractions to think about recently but, with this revised agreement, I can now just concentrate on the job and the future. The changes to the contract have simply made some things clear that weren't clear before. We had a three-year plan, including the first year in Supersport, but not really a fixed deal. Now we've come to a good decision together and I'm looking forward to the rest of this season and the next two years with this strong and professional team."
"We already had an ongoing two-year agreement with Jonathan from last year, but it was just at a basic level," added team manager Ronald ten Kate. "It needed an upgrade, so we now have a fine-tuned version after his! impressive results this season.
"We are delighted ! to conti nue with the plan which brought Jonathan from British Superbike, through our own World Supersport squad and on to his World Superbike challenge. He has grown up a lot this season, both as a rider and as a person, and he is an absolute joy to work with. I believe we are just beginning to see the great potential that Jonathan has."
