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SBK, Hayden: "My advantage? I know Jerez well"

Great optimism in the Honda Ten Kate camp. Besides Hayden, Van Der Mark is also feeling positive: "Jerez has been kind to me"

Hayden: "My advantage? I know Jerez well"

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The championship round at Jerez will be the penultimate on the SBK calendar and the two races that will be held on the magnificent Spanish circuit will be decisive for deciding the titles, as well as significant for those keen to finish out the season in the best possible way.

Team Honda Ten Kate arrives on Spanish soil after a weekend of ups and downs at Magny-Cours where Michael Van Der Mark and Nicky Hayden alternated good performances in rather drab races.

The number 69 American rider knows Jerez very well, having already raced here in his rookie MotoGP year in 2003 with the Honda RC211V, but with the CBR1000 Fireblade, the corners and downhills that he knows so well could prove to be more difficult than he expects: “Jerez is a fantastic track. I like it a lot and I hope that we will be able to be competitive there - said the Kentucky Kid – a few of the long, fast turns should be a good fit for our bike. We’ll need to work on the settings and the electronics, as well as the mechanical part to get the most out of it in the slow corners, but I don’t think it will be as hard as it was at Magny-Cours. My knowledge of the track will play in my favour, so I won’t have to learn it from the first free practice session. I can’t wait to get started and I’m hoping I’ll be able to be very fast.”

In France things did not go too badly for Van Der Mark. The young Dutch rider finished Race 1on the podium, taking advantage of making the tyre change at the right moment and riding more smoothly than Savadori and Camier, beating them out in the finale. Jerez is the track where Michael celebrated the Supersport championship that he won in 2014, so his memories here are more than positive: “I can’t wait to race at Jerez… in France we brought home another podium and important championship points. Now I am fourth in the standings, but the battle is not over yet. Last year at Jerez I finished on the podium and in 2014 I won the Supersport title here, so I can say that this track has been kind to me. We also conducted tests here over the winter and I hope to improve the bike so that we can battle for the top spots."

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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