Paolo Casoli - 1st - “It has been a great day for me. My plan was always to get into the lead and try to make a break and it worked out. I was totally unaware of what was happening behind me. It is too early to worry about the championship, but I know that many of the circuits coming up will suit my style - especially the next one at Monza.”

Jörg Teuchert - 2nd - “I had to fight really hard to come through the first few laps after not such a great qualifying. We changed the entire front fork assembly overnight and that worked much better for me. Casoli was just too far in front for me to get to and he was so fast, especially in the early parts of the race. I had a good race with James Whitham and I was behind when his timing transponder fell off, but it was no problem. Second is good, and almost makes up for scoring no points at Valencia.”

Andrew Pitt 3rd - "I could see Foret was holding Riba up, and also the guys behind me were starting to queue up. It was difficult to pass them because they were getting away down the straight and I wasn't able to get close enough to out-brake them. Eventually I got a good run on them and went really hard on the brakes and snuck up the inside. I think I had an advantage coming out of the chicane just before the run up the hill. I was driving out of there under acceleration, and the Hondas were sliding. I was sideways a lot of the time, but the Dunlops had better traction today. I've got two Australians working in my team this season and they make the Kawasaki really good. Now we've got to keep the momentum going for the rest of the season."

Karl Muggeridge 5th - “I’m very happy with the result and I think we couldn’t have done any better from starting off the 4th row of the grid, which screwed me up a little bit. But I knew the first few laps were very important, and after a while I just picked them up as they came along. The bike-set up and the Dunlop’s worked really well throughout the whole race and allowed me to do consistent lap times. The brakes still need a little bit of work and for sure I’ll have to sort out qualifying next time. But it was a good race and I had fun out there!”

Kevin Curtain 6th - "It was a long and hard race. The hardest thing was the other riders got me off turns, I catch up to them around the corners, but there bikes must have behaved different than mine, I couldn't stay with them. I'm pretty happy to finish the race, as I had quite a big moment when Muggeridge passed me in the chicane. I look forward to going to Monza and hopefully we can get the bike going good there - a fast bike counts a lot at Monza. The team's happy, I'm happy, so we're going there in one piece, what more do you want?"

Christian Kellner - 9th - “It was really hard work for me out there. Most of the other riders were going slower in the corners and I needed corner speed to allow me to get good drive in order to pass them on the straights. The bike was no problem really but I could not get a clear run to pass anyone at the end. I am disappointed to finish so low down but I scored some points and that is the main thing.”

Iain MacPherson 10th - “I got a really good start, but a rider baulked me into the first corner and I had to shut down the throttle. This put me back to 20th and basically my race was over. With this one line track, all I could do was conserve as many points as I could. It just goes to show how important qualifying is – I’ll just have to start winning races. But now at least we’re going to some of my favourite tracks.”

Chris Vermeulen 14th - "The front tyre I was using in qualifying was the best but we weren't sure about it lasting the full race distance. So we went for a slightly harder compound - same as I used at Valencia and Donington Park earlier in the year - but it didn't work. I couldn't lean the machine over into corners for fear of crashing so I just stayed on board and took the points. Once I got into 15th place I pushed a little harder but almost crashed. I had to do the sensible thing and finish the race after not finishing the first two rounds. I'm not that disappointed with my first visit to Sugo. It's not the easiest track in the world to race on but we've made a lot of progress with the machine and the Michelin tyres this weekend."

James Whitham - DNF - “I felt someone hit me from behind on the startline and that knocked my seat loose. I could hear something vibrating in the airstream and that was putting me off quite a bit. I got used to it though and started to catch up with the leaders. Then the noise just stopped and then the engine cut out, allowing Teuchert to get past me. I had just got by him again when the thing just stopped for good, I think because the wiring had been cut by the loose seat.” 

World SuperSport Race Report