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While most others were busy testing at Misano, Jonathan Rea from the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team was making his latest machine developments at Assen. But it is to memories of Misano he thinks of when considering what may be possible at the circuit he took his first WSBK win at, last year on the same bike he will race this coming weekend.

"It's certainly going to be tough as our main rivals have tested at Misano and have four days on us, but it's a circuit I like very much and I've had some success here, including my first Superbike win last year. I got to Misano a little earlier than normal to soak up some sun, but the weather has been that bad I might as well have stayed at home. It's improving though, and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in again at the weekend."

Work in the recent tests should help Rea's cause at Misano, as the rider ranked third in the championship right now aims to peg back the leading two whenever possible. "The guys have been working hard on our weaknesses back at the workshop and we had a reasonably good test at Assen over two days last week," said Jonathan. "We needed it though, and we won't really know how much better the bike is until I start riding it around Misano on Friday. I'll dig deep again and try to get the best results that I can - a repeat of last year wouldn't be too bad."