Winston Ten Kate Honda’s World Superbike pairing of Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge head to Phillip Island in Australia this weekend for round two of the 2005 season. Respectively from Brisbane and Tweed Heads in New South Wales, the two will approach this event as their home round and will be keen to perform well on the Honda CBR1000RR.

Vermeulen left the first round at Losail in Qatar last month in fourth place overall after finishing eighth and fourth in the two races. Muggeridge took a top ten finish in his debut Superbike race but crashed out of race two. With a solid test at Valencia two weeks ago, however, both riders made the type of progress they had sought pre-season and now feel competitive enough to improve their championship standings. The weekend’s activities kick off with practice and qualifying sessions on Friday, with Saturday’s Superpole session used to determine final grid positions for Sunday’s two races.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “Phillip Island is like a second home to the team – especially with our two Australian riders. We’ve had good success there in the past and Chris took two second places in our first year with the CBR1000RR last season. The recent Valencia test at last gave us the chance to do some development work on the bike and gave both riders some good amounts of track time so we head to Australia in a positive frame of mind. In terms of set-up for the bike, we know which direction we need to be heading in now so we’ll be using chassis parts and settings from Valencia to make sure we’re competitive, because this round is really where our season starts.”

Chris Vermeulen – championship position 4th, 21 points: “It’s always good to come home to race and I’ve had a couple of weeks to acclimatise at my parents’ house in Brisbane. I’ve been doing some flying hours towards my pilot’s licence, some training and cruising around in my F100 pick-up, so I’m feeling pretty relaxed. I really like the Phillip Island circuit – I won my first World Supersport race there in 2003 and came away with top points last year on the Superbike. With family and friends around it helps to relax but it’s also an incentive to do well. The Valencia test gave us a chance to put some laps in and showed us that we’re going the right way with the bike so I’m confident that we can do well this weekend.”

Karl Muggeridge – championship position 12th, 7 points: “For various reasons, the first round in Qatar wasn’t that fantastic but the great thing with this team is that we didn’t panic. I’ve said from the start that I’m not going to make any wild predictions for my first year in Superbikes because that’ll only put pressure on me. I just want to make steady progress each time I go out on the bike and the Valencia test was really the first opportunity to do that. It showed that with some time on the bike I can be competitive and I’m looking to push that forward at Phillip Island this weekend. Of course, I’ve got friends and family coming down to cheer me on which will be great but it won’t be until after the race that I can really relax with them.”

The Winston Ten Kate Honda World Supersport approaches this weekend’s second round of the 2005 championship at Phillip island, Australia with one thing in mind: to maintain its stranglehold on the class that has secured the last three world titles and continued this year since the first official test at Losail in Qatar in February. The team’s two riders, Sébastien Charpentier and Katsuaki Fujiwara, have headed the time sheets in virtually every practice session, underlining their domination with a one-two finish in the opening round.

Although Charpentier had qualified in pole position for the Losail event, it was Fujiwara that lit up the race with a last-to-first charge after he stalled his Honda CBR600RR at the start from second place on the grid. The pair carried their good form back to Europe for an official test at Valencia in Spain just over two weeks ago, heading the time sheets once more with Charpentier back on top.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “Of course it was a dream start for the team at the first round in Qatar. We have a heavily revised CBR600RR this season and two new riders, so everybody had a great deal to learn. The fact that we have been so dominant simply shows how hard the team and riders have been working, learning to operate together. And, of course, it shows how good the Honda CBR600RR really is! We’ll start at Phillip Island with pretty much the same chassis settings that were working so well at the recent Valencia test where Sébastien was on fire and making really good progress. Katsuaki is still learning how the Honda works and how we work as a team but his win in Qatar was fantastic for everyone. We’re looking forward to keeping both riders on top in Australia.”

Katsuaki Fujiwara – championship position 1st, 25 points - “I think I made the right move in joining the Ten Kate team on the new Honda CBR for this season! It was fantastic for me to win in Qatar but I have also been getting used to the bike and my new team. The test at Valencia was another chance to make some progress and we worked mostly on the front of the bike because that gave us some problems in the first race. I’m really looking forward to Phillip Island and, although last year was not so good for me, I still have the lap record from the race in 2003 when I finished second behind Chris Vermeulen. I have spent the last couple of weeks back home in Japan relaxing with my family and with some people from Honda’s R&D department who threw a party to celebrate my win in Qatar.”

Sébastien Charpentier – championship position 2nd, 20 points - “The Valencia test was very important for me to understand the front end problems I had in Qatar. Everything went really well during the test there; I qualified in pole position for the race and had a really good lead after about six or seven laps. But then the problems started and Katsuaki came past me with about two laps to go. I was disappointed at the time but it was great for the team to get a one-two finish at the very first race. Now we go to Phillip Island where I finished fifth last year on the CBR600RR. The bike has really been improved for this season though and now I’m on a Ten Kate CBR, so I am confident that I can improve my result and go for another win for this incredible team.”

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