Ryuichi Kiyonari of the Ten Kate Honda Racing team is confident of improved results heading into this weekend's (24-26 July) 10th round World Superbike championship event at Brno in the Czech Republic.

The Japanese rider has had an inconsistent string of results thus far in 2009, in spite of two podium finishes in round five at Monza in Italy, and is seeking improvement on his fifth and sixth place finishes at the 5.4km Brno circuit last year.

Kiyonari completed a successful two-day test at Imola in Italy last week, when he was able to test fully the Ohlins suspension that the rest of his Ten Kate team switched to last month.

Ryuichi Kiyonari Speaks... (championship position 10th)

"I tried the new suspension at Donington Park but a race weekend is not the best time to be testing things like this. After the two days at Imola last week, there was definitely a better feeling coming. It's still not perfect but, for me, new things are sometimes difficult. We were testing new suspension at a new circuit, so it was not so bad! Brno is not new for me, and it is also not my favourite circuit, but I am confident that we can get better results than last year, and this is what I will try my best to achieve this weekend."

Ronald ten Kate Speaks... (Team Manager)

"We tested fully with Ohlins last week and now Kiyo-san has made the switch. His riding style is very sensitive to the smallest changes, so the two days we had at Imola were very important. We didn't quite achieve the perfect setting for Kiyo, but we did make some really good progress and that should give us a good starting point for this weekend's races at Brno."

World Superbike Schedule - Brno

Friday, 24 July
12.45-13.45 - free practice
16.15-17.15 - qualifying practice

Saturday, 25 July
10.45-11.30 - qualifying practice
14.00-14.45 - free practice
15.00-15.12 - Superpole 1
15.19-15.31 - Superpole 2
15.38-15.50 - Superpole 3

Sunday, 26 July
09.20-09.40 - warm-up
12.00 - race 1 (20 laps, 108.06km)
15.30 - race 2 (20 laps, 108.06km)