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Jonathan Rea has been leading the 2016 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship since his first win of the season, in the first race of the season at Phillip Island. The defending Champion has been consistently on the podium – the only man to have been on the rostrum in every Race – keeping the new ZX 10R at the top. After some stunning races for teammate Tom Sykes - in Sepang and even more so at Donington, where the Yorkshireman did the double –2013 WorldSBK Champion Sykes is also now the man hot on his teammate Rea’s heels, overtaking Ducati’s Chaz Davies in the points table as the season passed the halfway mark and keeping the crown closest to Kawasaki.

After a successful test in Jerez de la Frontera for the pairing, Misano is a track that has already seen good success for the ZX 10R - something that bodes well for the KRT duo ahead of the Pirelli Riviera di Rimini Round. Looking forward to Misano, the KRT duo have even more reason to be optimistic, having taken a win each last year and Sykes having done the double the year before. Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli also boasts the honour of having hosted Rea’s first Race win, in 2009.

 “Misano is a circuit that I really enjoy and it has special memories for me because I won my first ever WorldSBK race there,” said Jonathan Rea, now 56 points clear at the top of the table. “I am excited to race there because it seems like in the last rounds we have been doing a very good job. We had a productive two-day test in Jerez after that in which we were able to test some things for the future but also confirmed that the direction we have been going in at Sepang and Donington with bike set-up seems to be the right way. I am going to Misano to try to win both races because it has been a few rounds now since I have stood on the top step of the podium.”

“I am looking forward to Misano because we have some great fans there,” added Sykes. “The circuit is tight and twisty which always lends itself to good racing. I also feel that I have found a little bit of harmony with the Ninja ZX-10R in recent races. I am very motivated and relaxed, and we are now carrying all that momentum forward. Some other teams have tested at Misano recently but I intend to make up for that when I get there.”

The Pirelli Riviera di Rimini Round gets underway on Friday 17^th June for the first practice sessions to decide entry to Tissot-Superpole 2 on Saturday morning, ahead of Race 1 at 13:00 local time (GMT +2) and Race 2 24 hours later on Sunday.