INTERVIEW
HONDA RACING WORLDSBK BOSS RONALD TEN KATE
P92
erybody was looking at us going, 'who
are you going racing with?' At this point
in the season we started to beat the
factory Ducati boys. Chris doubled up
that year at Laguna Seca as well.
Would you consider moving back
into world supersport?
We would love to, but there's a solid
reason behind it. Lately, the project
has been backed by Honda Motor
Europe. The CBR600RR is not com-
mercially available anymore in Europe,
so there is no reason for Honda Motor
Europe to back up the strategy. It still is
a great, great bike. Back in Europe we
are now supporting a couple of teams.
It's still capable of winning. We would
love to run world supersport again,
not only because it's the class where
we have been successful for so many
years, but also because it's a program
where we can bring up not just younger
riders, but also engineers. They can
grow through the ranks there and then
join World Superbike teams. That's
got to be an issue though because
you have the Supersport 300 Cham-
pionship, then supersport not getting
any development, and then you have
superbike. The jump is too big between
300 and superbikes. What's the solu-
tion? That's the question mark I have as
well. You can't jump from a 300 bike to
a world superbike. Of course, we have
the European Superstock 1000, which
is working and that could be like an
intermediate class. Personally, I'm a big
fan of supersport itself. We need some-
thing in between for the racers who are
coming through. CN
Ten Kate
insists there
must be a
proper middle
stepping
class between
Supersport
300 (pictured)
to WorldSBK
machinery.
