Toseland 'over the moon' with Ten Kate ride.

2004 World Superbike champion James Toseland has now been officially announced as a Winston Ten Kate Honda rider for the 2006 WSBK season, having agreed terms with Gerrit and Ronald ten Kate in Holland last Saturday (as previously reported).

Toseland finished fourth during a difficult 2005 season with Ducati, taking one race win at his home Silverstone event, but - with he and team-mate Regis Laconi being replaced by Troy Bayliss and Lorenzo Lanzi - will now move to Honda's top team, which took six wins and second in the 2005 championship with Chris Vermeulen.

"It's sometimes an over-used expression but I'm just over the moon to be riding with the Winston Ten Kate Honda team for next year," grinned 25-year-old Toseland. "It's been a stressful couple of weeks but now we've done the deal I just can't wait to get on the bike.

"I've had a good five years with Ducati but now I feel I'm really moving onwards and upwards, as well as coming home to Honda. We all saw in last year's World Superbike debut season for the Ten Kate team that they had a really strong package with the Fireblade that turned them into championship contenders at the end of the season.

"I've watched the bikes on the track this year - particularly racing against Karl Muggeridge at Magny-Cours - and you can see how much development work they've done. Four consecutive World Supersport championships with four different riders show how strong and consistent the team can be.

"We all know how powerful the Ten Kate engines are and I'm really excited about helping to continue developing the chassis as well. I visited the team's workshop in Holland over the weekend and it really is very impressive. They're totally switched on and it's obvious that they're doing this to win.

"I can't wait to start working with them and I'm very excited about becoming part of that famous Ten Kate racing 'family'," Toseland concluded.

"We are absolutely delighted to have secured James's services for next year's World Superbike campaign with Winston and Honda," declared team manager Ronald ten Kate. "It'll be our third year in the series and 2006 probably represents our best opportunity to win the title and add to our four consecutive World Supersport championships.

"Last year was really a toe in the water for us and I think that this year, with a little more luck earlier in the season, Chris Vermeulen would have had a strong chance of winning the title. James fits exactly what we are looking for in a rider - he's young, talented and highly motivated.

"We are really looking forward to bringing the best out of him and, in the conversations that we've had, I can see how eager he is to get on the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade. His career started with Honda and it'll be good to get him winning with Honda again. I know he will fit into the team extremely well and the guys are really looking forward to working with him," added the Dutchman.

There was no announcement regarding the team's second rider today, but Muggeridge is rumoured to be retained for a second WSBK season while Vermeulen will move to MotoGP, almost certainly with Suzuki.