Yesterday, it was announced that Ten Kate would no longer run the Honda WorldSBK operation ending a 16-year collaboration in the big class.

The team will now be run by a Moriwaki/Althea effort backed by HRC themselves and it leaves Ten Kate in the wilderness.

The most credible rumour floating around the Milan Show yesterday was that Ronald Ten Kate had already dismissed a move to Aprilia as it was simply too expensive for what you get and was in talks with Suzuki for a customer team.

As yet, no-one has taken up the GSX-R1000 as Suzuki have offered no support for it - preferring to concentrate on the MotoGP effort - and it could mean Ten Kate will also cease to be a Honda dealer in Holland.

That will have some impact as they sell probably more Hondas than the rest of the Dutch dealer network put together.