Honda Racing’s Michael Van Der Mark is aiming to put a disappointing World Superbike round at Aragon behind him in the best way possible this weekend with victory at Assen.

Magic Mikey began the 2016 championship in terrific fashion, with a double podium in Australia and he further backed up his credentials with a fine third place in the second duel at Thailand, but the return to Europe didn’t work out for the Honda team at Aragon.

“For sure my goal is to win and I hope I can do that at Assen,” he told Bikesport News. “I really like the last sector, the old part of Assen, it is a really good place to ride and it’s just so fast.”

Honda’s weekend began brightly with both the young Rotterdammer and team-mate Nicky Hayden on the pace in practice, but a poor qualifying session and a succession of crashes has sent the team back to the drawing board.

“I fell in the race because I was pushing a little too hard, I don’t think it had anything to do with the tyres as everyone is on the same so maybe that last part of the race is something we need to work on,” said Van Der Mark.

“I think we can improve and we are always trying to be better. I’m close but the pace at the start of the race is so fast that I lose a little towards the end, we need to work on that so I can have a better feeling at the end where I can overtake someone confidently.

“I’ve done so many laps at Assen and it is a place where the Honda has always worked well so I’m very optimistic that we can have a good time there. I want to win always and I will try my best but we’ll see.”

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