Honda domination has been clear all weekend at Qatar with the new CBR600RR proving the machine to beat right out of the blocks with Yamaha the next best machine during qualifying in the hands of Kevin Curtain.  A very small field in the Supersport class at this opening round with only 18 machines on the grid.  2005 seems to be the year that once again the Superbike class becomes the main focus of interest for most due to a resurgence of the big machines which seems to have come somewhat to the detriment to the traditionally thrilling World Supersport class.

Sebastien Charpentier did something previously unthinkable in this class by taking pole position by a full second.  On that form it would be a brave man to bet against him running away with the race today.  But in racing, anything can happen...

Charpentier put his pole position to good use by leading the field through turn one and then quickly pulling a second over Fabrizio.  Kevin Curtain had the front wheel shoot skywards off the line which had cost him plenty of time while the second place man on the grid Katsuaki Fujiwara was left virtually stranded mid-field after stalling on the line before getting his machine going again. Foret was running third, Chambon fourth and then Broc Parkes the first non Honda in fifth place on his YZF-R6.

Fujiwara had recovered from his shocking start to scythe his way through the field and have moved up to fifth place by the third lap and was closing on the now fourth places Broc Parkes.  Charpentier had already started to disappear and after three laps had well over two seconds on the whole field.

Fujiwara went past Parkes easily and quickly settled on to the rear wheel of Foret and it seemed already that Fujiwara would easily work his way up to second place in the coming laps and sprint away to make it equivocally clear that the Ten Kate Hondas are by far the fastest machines in the field.

It took Fujiwara another few laps to dispense with both Foret and Fabrizio to get up to second place after that shocking start to the race.  Charpentier was looking untouchable out front and seemed to be just managing the gap at about five seconds.

Charpentier then started cruising perhaps a little too much and Fujiwara closed the gap down to three seconds.  The Frenchman then upped the wick again in response but Fujiwara continued to close a little more and with seven laps to run the gap was down to 2.2 seconds.  A lap later the gap was down to just under a second as Charpentier seemed to run wide on a couple of places and had seemed to go right off the boil. On the form shown by Charpentier after the halfway point in the race it seemed certain that Fujiwara would get the better of him and it also looked possible that Fabrizio could perhaps even take second place if Charpentier does not get his act together.

With six laps to run Charpentier had no option but to get his act together as Fujiwara was starting to challenge at every turn. The pace started hotting up again and Fabrizio was three seconds behind the leaders but looking safe for the final step on the podium.  But with Charpentier and Fujiwara tussling up front their was still a vague chance that Fabrizio might be able to close if the leaders pace slows due to protective race lines and passing manoeuvres.

Fujiwara did get the better of Charpentier and then just cleared out as the Frenchman seemed to give up the ghost. By the end of the race Fujiwara had built a clear 5.4 second lead over his team-mate while Fabrizio came home in a safe third.  The first Yamaha home was Kevin Curtain in fourth place while his fellow Australian and Yamaha pilot Broc Parkes came home sixth place.

The Ten Kate Honda pace is extremely daunting for the season ahead.  Fujiwara effectively cut his way through the whole field to work his way to the front and then simply checked out.  Even Fabrizio in third place was 14 seconds faster than the best Yamaha pilot, Kevin Curtain.  CBR600RR racers around the world will be rubbing their hands together in anticipation of their domestic seasons ahead. 

The only heart that Yamaha can take from the event is that their star riders, Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes, were both carrying injuries this weekend.  But something that makes me think that they need more speed from their machines rather than just themselves.