Althea Honda's Tommy Hill is burning the midnight oil with his Italian World Superbike squad to try and figure out a solution to the chatter problems which are causing him nightmares.

The likeable youngster has been plagued by chatter from the rear Pirelli tyres at both the Phillip Island and Qatar rounds, meaning he hasn't been able to keep pace with the other conventional four-cylinder bikes and two big engines blow-ups haven't helped the cause.

"The bike is great and quick on top speed, and it works really well through quick turns but it chatters my head off through slower ones off the throttle," said Hill, speaking to bikesportnews.com this afternoon.

"I always try and use the same compound front tyre as I like it but we don't have enough to use the same one through all of the sessions, so sometimes I have to use a front tyre I am not happy with to save the good ones for Sunday.

"We have a few rear compunds to choose from which work with my bike in quick corners but in slower turns they cause big chatter. Trying to follow any of the twins or the Yamaha through a second-gear corner is really tough, and I lost the front following Laconi at Phillip Island because of it.

"We're working hard to solve the problems and my Ohlins guy Christian really helps in the garage because he speaks really good English, which overcomes some of the language barriers but we wil get there."