TEN MINUTES WITH THE TENA FOR MEN BOYS

By BSB Reporter Tammy Milsom

At Brands Hatch, two riders utterly disappointed and eager to get on track were Tena for Men riders Michael Howarth and Tristian Palmer.

Michael's 2007 quest within the British Superbike Cup was abruptly ended with a severe crash at Brands Hatch last year.  Even though he returns the track this did not hinder his desire to be out battling.  He has been working extremely hard to regain his fitness, both physically and mentally.  

Michael qualified with a time of 1m 31s, he said: 'I've not improved since Friday, so yesterday I deliberately made mistakes to push myself and build my confidence.  Which worked as I then realised that I could do more with the front than I was doing.'  He continued: 'I am really happy with the bike, this is the first time I have used my number one bike, I have got new electronics and the confidence in them is amazing.  Also the mechanics have been grafting really hard and doing a great job.'

On his return his aim is to be consistently running within the top 15 and gaining as many points as possible, whilst improving throughout the season.  When asked about the complex setup for this circuit he said: 'You can never get a bike set up for a full lap.  You need to get the bike set up where you want to make the most time.  Here on the it is at the back through Dingle Dell etc...and you have just got to accept a bit of chattering in some places.'

Tristan continues with the team after stepping for Michael last year and winning the cup championship, he now has moved up into superbikes to continue his success. He said: 'Things are going really good, I messed up qualifying due to the rain, but generally happy with the setup'.  He continued 'I aim to be consistently in the top ten and was looking forward to being out on track.'  

Palmer will be concentraing solely on BSB, but did venture into Daytona earlier this year. He said: 'The organisation is pretty much the same, but medic facilities are not quite as good. But I do like it and enjoy, it's a good experience.'  Tena for Men Honda is the best package he has had within his racing career and is a great opportunity for him. He said: 'I just need to get more and more confident with it as I have not had much testing time.  We did some in Spain but that was a normal track day so I got a lot of traffic.  It is a case of getting used to it all'.

Both riders agree that the transition from Dunlops to Pirellis hasn't really affected them because the Pirelli's are much better than the Dunlops they raced on last year, as they were not on the top specfication tyres.  For this team the new tyre rule has worked in their favours.  Michael added: 'The front is very good, but with the rear's you've got only a choice of three and sometimes you want more from a rear tyre, but the next choice either way from what you are using can be too much or too little.  It's put a bit more back onto the rider in that way.'

The team has been given enormous backing from Tena for Men, previously they were a personal sponsor for Howarth for two years.  Half way through last year the future plans for the team were put forward and they came in on the deal to be the main sponsor.  They have also become involved in supporting the male cancer charity Orchid and their 'Checked out' campaign.  Michael explains 'This is a great showcase environment for the sponsors', they want to use their position to promote organisations that will help many people.  For more information visit www.tenaformenhonda.co.uk.




  LONE WOLF