World Superbike 2008 - Round Four

World Superbike 2008 - Round Four - Assen

Day 3 Report - HRC

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s Carlos Checa concluded a strong weekend of racing with a second and third place place at the team’s home track in Assen today. The double podium rounds off a successful day of racing for the team, after collecting the number one and two spots in the World Supersport race earlier.

Carlos Checa encountered some technical issues with his bike in the qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday’s, but the issues were soon a distant memory as he set about to carve his way forward through the field and concluded the first Superbike race with a second place behind Troy Bayliss.

In the second Superbike race, Checa stayed put in 5th place for a while but his consistent pace enabled him to close the gap with Neukirchner and Haga and he found the place to overtake them in the final rounds and claimed a third place behind Troy Bayliss and Noriyuki Haga.
The Spanish rider now holds a second place in the World Superbike Championship standings.

Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager;
“Carlos has been riding very well here today. The biggest problems still seems to lie in the first quarter of the race where we have a lack of speed. Towards the end of the race we are able to increase our pace and make up some ground again."

“Kiyonari was showing a good performance throughout the weekend, but hasn’t had the best of luck. I thought he could be on the podium in the second race, where on certain times he was the fastest man on the track, but unfortunately the clamp of his steering damper broke and he had to return to the pit garage.”

“It looked like Sofuoglu was picking up the pace this weekend in practice and first race but in the second race he clearly wasn’t able to hold on to his progression. “

“I am a very happy man after the great results we achieved here today. We didn’t only claim success in the Supersport and Superbike races, but also in the Superstock 1000 race where Maxim Berger claimed the first victory on his CBR1000RR Fireblade. It is good to see him adapting to the new class so quickly."

Carlos Checa, Honda CBR1000RR;
“I am very satisfied with the podiums I achieved today in both races. The first race was special riding so close to Neurkirchner, when I tried to overtake him, it sure brought back some thoughts of the Valencia race.”

“I took attention while overtaking him (Neukirchner) and moved into second place, but Troy had already secured a firm lead and it was impossible to catch him, he had a better pace throughout the first race.”

“My target today was to be closer to Troy, but he was just too strong on this track and there was no way for me to fight and overtake him here.”

Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda CBR1000RR;
“The clamp of my steering damper broke and I as unable to continue the race. I don’t know why it happened, but it was just very unfortunate having to end the race prematurely.”

“With my riding style I’m still using the front tire too much and wear it out quickly, it makes it difficult for me to keep my lap times. I’ve changed the front tire for the second race, it felt better and I tried to push harder and even set one of the quickest lap times, but then had to retreat early.

“I am excited about the fast lap time I managed to set in race two, it gives me the confidence and direction on this new track.”

I’m understanding the machine’s potential better every time out. The setting was good today, for which I want to thank my mechanics, I just hope I’ll have a bit more luck next time.”

Kenan Sofuoglu, Honda CBR1000RR;
“What a disappointing weekend. My first race was acceptable, but my last race was just a disaster. I was expecting to achieve a lot more on this track, but I didn’t manage to succeed.”

“My mechanics have worked hard for which I want to thank them. There is no problem with the bike, everything seems to be fine. I just don’t have an answer as to why I am riding like this.”

HANNspree Ten Kate Honda dominates Supersport podium in home race

The HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team managed to take top honours in a close Supersport battle at their home track in Assen.

Jonathan Rea immediately lead the race after his start from the front row and showed how quickly he has familiarised himself with the fast Dutch circuit. Andrew Pitt, who started on the third row, also made his way forward in the field quickly and took the lead from Jonathan in the 3rd lap.

Pitt and Rea were neck on neck coming through the last Geert Timmer chicane, but Pitt managed to outpace his teammate with less then a bike length and claimed his second Supersport victory this season. Jonathan Rea claimed his first ever WSS podium in what was easily his best race weekend in the competition so far.

Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager;
“What an amazing race. I don’t think we have ever participated in an exciting battle like this and I can sure tell you its not good for my heart! What a result, it is so good to see both our riders on top of the rostrum in our home race.”

“Jonathan and Andrew dominated the race and were challenging each other in one of the most exciting races I’ve watched so far. It was close racing up at the front of the field but all riders were riding competitive and fair race. ”

“I want to give my big compliments to the team who have been working hard all weekend and prepared the winning Honda’s that got both riders on the podium today. I am really looking forward to the next race in Monza.”

Andrew Pitt, 1st place;
“I was trying to keep myself up front as much as possible like I did in Phillip Island. Jonathan was very strong and riding smoothly, but at some parts of the track I was faster, on other parts he was, so we kept overtaking each other and swapping positions.”

”I want to say thanks to my mechanics, we had a tough weekend during the practice sessions and tried to solve the issues we faced after the last race in Valencia.”

“Jonathan and I had a couple of close overtakes, maybe too close at some points, but we both got through it and managed to set a great result for the team’s home race. Now bring on Monza!”

Jonathan Rea, 2nd place;
“First I want to congratulated Andrew who rode a great race.”

”The bike has been pretty good all weekend, it was a big challenge for me to come onto this new circuit and made a pretty good job of learning it. We were banging on the door in the top 3 all weekend.”

“For me the race was a good example of Supersport racing, I’ve improved my riding by racing so close and have learnt a lot in the first laps.”

“We also made break through with the front tire this weekend, we chose a different one then we used at the other races previous. For most part of the race I felt I had it under control until the last lap. I got on the breaks as late as I could, but Andrew was just coming in on the inside. We were both on the limit and had to let the breaks off. That’s when I ran wide and got on the wrong line.”

“I am happy for the team and the team’s sponsors to have the results we’ve achieved today. I am really looking forward to the next race in Monza now.”

-- STIGGY --

The fourth round of the World Supersport Championship race today at the Assen TT Circuit Assen was a close affair, with only five seconds separating the winner from the 13th rider crossing the finish line. Team HANNspree Stiggy Motorsport Honda rider Joshua Brookes managed to take 6th pace in the race, while team mate Robbin Harms, who had started from 17th on the grid, finished 13th.

Joshua - 6th
Finally in the warm-up the bike felt much better. The changes we made in the morning were the right ones and they gave me a good feeling and more confidence for the race. Starting from 7th place on the grid, I was up to 4th in the first couple of laps. I could keep a good and fast pace, but made a few mistakes here and there. However, I could make up for them quiet easily and got back up again. It was actually harder for me to stay behind someone than to ride alone, as it felt much better and easier riding my own pace. The race was really tight today and considering how the weekend progressed, Im not happy with 6th place. But at least we managed to get the bike working and I was able to do a competitive race.

Robbin - 13th
Its been a difficult weekend for us and not being up to speed in qualifying left me starting from 13th place on the grid. My plan was to focus on the start and the first couple of laps. Unfortunately I had a bad start and was only 15th on the first lap. I tried to make up for it by overtaking as many riders a possible, but it was not so easy. In the middle of the race, I finally caught up with the front group and was, at one stage, in seventh place. I kept on making mistakes because I was really pushing myself and the bike to the limit. With just a few laps to go I made amistakeand dropped to 13th and thats where I finished. We will have to work hard for the next race and hopefully it will be much better.

Johan Stigefelt (Team manager)
We have had a mixed weekend with some good sessions and some bad ones. But in this mornings session we managed to get both bikes to work better. That gave our riders more confidence for the race and also a better chance to make a good result. I think both of them made a good race and fought hard for a good finish. We will stay positive and work towards a better race weekend in Monza.

-- MUGGAS --

Race 1:
D.F. Racing Honda’s Karl Muggeridge got a great start from his 18th grid position and moved up into 14th place by the first corner. Muggas was racing with a group of 6 for about two thirds of the race battling for those last two top ten places.

However after lap 16 his front tyre was pretty much done and so was the grip. The Australian had a few big moments but was able to bring it home with a couple of points.

Troy Bayliss won in front of Carlos Checa and Max Neukirchner and extended his championship lead to 61 points.

Muggas comments: “That was a pretty tough race and we knew we probably gonna have problems somewhere as we started with a completely new setting into this first race here at Assen, since the new one we tried this morning in warm-up didn’t really improve our times. The first half of the race was great and I got a good start too and was able to have a bit of a race with the boys. I felt like I could have easily hang with Kiyo but suddenly my front grip was gone and when I finished the race my front tyre was down to the canvas. We knew our settings weren’t perfect and they just worked the front too hard, so we are going to adjust the bike a little bit and probably also choose a different tyre for the second race.”

Race 2:
In the second leg of the 4th round of the World Superbike Championship D.F. Racing’s Karl Muggeridge didn’t get such a great start and remained in 18th position for the first split however was able to pass a couple guys by the time they crossed the start finish straight for lap no. 2.

Muggas who has mad a small change to his front fork settings and mounted a bit a harder front tyre too was able to ride a good race with consistent lap times that were equal to a few guys in front of him. However starting back from the 5th row makes it difficult to get to the front as you loose already about 5 seconds the first couple laps being trapped at the back.

Muggas comments: ”The bike was definitely handling better after our changes and I got more consistent grip throughout the race. It makes it hard to get to the front group when you start back at row 5. By the time you cross the line the first time you are already 5 seconds back. I think today we could have easily finished in the top ten if we just qualified a bit better, it’s really important to get into Superpole so you got a chance to mingle with the front. We’re pretty happy with the consistent times, all we need now is a bit more power so I can actually pass somebody without risking a neck. I think the power problem has mainly to do with our electronics and we are trying to fix that for the next round.”

Troy Bayliss took his second victory of the day in front of Nori Haga and Carlos Checa.