HM Plant Honda team boss Neil Tuxworth has explained his decision to bring former rider Ryuichi Kiyonari in to the squad for this weekend's croft British Superbike round.

Tuxworth reckons it is a good opportunity for Kiyonari, who has had a torrid time in World Superbikes this year, to see how he performs at a track and in a championship he knows well.

"I made the request to HME (Honda Motor Europe) after Glen Richards rode a standard Fireblade at Croft last week and decided he was not fit to race this coming weekend," said Tuxworth, speaking to bikesportnews.com this morning.

"I decided it would be good to use Kiyo because first he knows Croft well having raced there four times in the past and also he knows our team very well. I think its fair to say that Kiyo has not had a good season in the WSB races this year and its a good chance also for him to see how he still performs in BSB.

"In reality we cannot win the BSB Championship this year so we may as well use Kiyo for the benefit of both the team, HME and Kiyo himself."