Superbike Race 1

Chris Vermeulen finished second behind fellow-Australian Troy Corser in today’s opening third round World Superbike championship race at Valencia in Spain. Vermeulen’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Karl Muggeridge, suffered further misfortune, however, and did not finish the race.

Starting from second place on the grid for the 23-lap affair, Vermeulen quickly slotted into second place and battled for much of the second half of the race with Norick Abe, who crashed out with two laps remaining. Muggeridge had to take avoiding action on lap one when fellow-Honda rider, Max Neukirchner, crashed in front of him, forcing the Australian onto the gravel. Pushing hard to salvage some points, Muggeridge eventually crashed out of 20th place on lap 20.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “I’m very happy with Chris’s result, given the problems that we have had all weekend up to now. We’ll definitely make some adjustments to his CBR1000RR for race two and probably use a different front tyre. I feel so sorry for Karl who has had some pretty bad luck at the beginning of the season. Neukirchner crashed right in front of him and in his efforts to salvage something from the race, Karl slipped off close to the end of the race. We’ll see what race two brings but I hope his luck changes now.”

Chris Vermeulen – “That was really hard work. The conditions were very slippery compared to last year’s race which was held earlier in the year. I think the higher temperatures here mean that the tyres are having to work much harder, so grip is a problem for everyone. I knew Abe was behind me because I could hear his bike and my pit board was reading plus zero all the way through. Suddenly it went to plus six, which is unfortunate for him; but my last lap was about three seconds slower as I just wanted to bring the bike home.”

Karl Muggeridge – “I couldn’t believe it when Neukirchner’s bike went up in the air in front of me. I’ve got a big black mark from one of his tyres down the back of my shoulder and had to duck to get out of its way. I guess I was lucky not to go off then but managed to get all the way through the gravel and then slid off right at the end. When I eventually got going again my lap times would have had me battling for fourth I think, and warm-up this morning told me I had a pretty could race set-up. I need some luck and hope I can find it in race two this afternoon.”

Superbike Race 2

Chris Vermeulen scored another podium by finishing second to Troy Corser in race two of this afternoon’s World Superbike championship third round at Valencia in Spain. The 22-year-old Winston rider managed to keep in touch with his fellow-Australian and championship rival throughout the 23-lap race but had to fight off the attentions of Britain’s Chris Walker for most of the second half of the race.

Vermeulen’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Karl Muggeridge, finished a disappointing weekend by crashing out on lap 15 of the second outing whilst sitting comfortably in a strong seventh place. With his 40-point haul from today’s two races, Vermeulen moves up to third place in the points table as the championship gears up for round four at Monza in Italy in two weeks time.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “That was a great ride from Chris – just like in the first race when he had to battle for many laps under a lot of pressure. From what I could see he made no mistakes and protected his position lap after lap. It was a different challenger this time but the result was the same and I am happy for him and the team to take two second places away from what has been a very difficult weekend. I’m disappointed for Karl again as his weekend has been even harder. We’ll have to try and find out what caused his crash but it’s a shame that he wasn’t able to bring his bike home for some valuable and well-deserved points. We’ll regroup and study all the data to make sure that we’re fighting for more podium positions at Monza.”

Chris Vermeulen – second: “That was just as hard as it was in race one but at least I was able to stay relatively close to Troy (Corser). He’s riding so well but I think we’re moving in the right direction every time we go out and hopefully, by the time we get to Monza, we will have closed the gap even more. Chris (Walker) showed what a good rider he is but when I saw a yellow bike behind me I assumed it would be Kagayama. Chris put me under a lot of pressure so it was important not to make a mistake. The Honda is pretty fast so I knew I was OK down the straights. I just had to brake as heavy as I dared into the corners. The track was pretty slippery and it was very hard to turn on the brakes, especially in the early part of the lap. But I’m happy to be on the podium again and to have collected a good load of points.”

Karl Muggeridge – DNF - “What can I say? It’s been a very tough weekend – not just for me but for the team as well. Once again we seem to be making some steps forward as we get through practice and qualifying but it’s not quite enough to get a good set-up for racing. I was feeling pretty comfortable in that race, though, not pushing too hard and trying to conserve the tyres for the end of the race. I just lost the front and tried to save it but my foot was stuck under the bike and that was it.”

Supersport Race

Sébastien Charpentier and Katsuaki Fujiwara scored an emphatic one-two victory for their Winston Ten Kate Honda team today in round three of the World Supersport championship at Valencia in Spain. Charpentier won the 23-lap race at the four-kilometre Ricardo Tormo Circuit by less than a second from his team-mate.

Starting from pole position, Charpentier settled into an early lead and set the fastest lap of the race on lap three, missing the outright Supersport lap record by just a tenth of a second. Fujiwara, meanwhile, had to battle through from sixth place at the end of lap one. He attempted a daring pass on Charpentier on the final lap, almost touching his fellow-CBR600RR rider. The Japanese ace finished 21 seconds ahead of third-placed rider Kevin Curtain.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “Sometimes I think that the aim of these two riders is to over-rev my heart rate – and they certainly did that on the final lap! But it was a really good race by both the guys and I’m very proud of them. We have quite a few guests here today and Howard Parks, vice-president of brand marketing for Winston, has told me how pleased he is to be associated with such a fine group of professionals. It’s great for Winston, for the team as a whole and for the riders that we have such fantastic support. It’s our tenth successive World Supersport victory and we’ll be working very hard to continue our run in Monza in a couple of weeks’ time.”

Sébastien Charpentier – “That was a very good race for me and a good weekend with my third pole position, fastest lap and my second win of the season. But it was certainly not easy. Conditions were very difficult out there and after I got into an early lead I just tried to put in many consistently good laps. Before half race distance I was reading plus zero on my pit board and I knew that Kats was there. For sure he pushed me very, very hard until the end – especially on that final lap. I’m so pleased for the team, who have worked so hard to keep me at the front all weekend, and for all the team’s guests who are here today. I think we put on a good show for them.”

Katsuaki Fujiwara – “Conditions changed very much from warm-up this morning when it was cooler. All weekend, the temperature has risen in the afternoon and this has made the track very slippery. I was pushing as hard as I could and trying to keep a very tight line as I tried to catch Sébastien. But as soon as I got off line the grip was gone so it was very difficult. I got quite close to him on the last lap – perhaps a little too close – but he was riding so well there was very little I could do to get past him.”