Superbike

Karl Muggeridge will start tomorrow’s fourth round World Superbike championship race at Monza from the front row after heading the qualifying time sheets earlier today. His Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate Chris Vermeulen heads row two, directly behind pole sitter Yukio Kagayama.

As the fastest rider heading into this afternoon’s Superpole event, Muggeridge lost six tenths of a second going into the first chicane on his one flying lap but recovered enough to post the fourth fastest time. Vermeulen, meanwhile, was second fastest after this morning’s second qualifying session but could only manage the fifth fastest Superpole lap.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “That’s Superpole, I’m afraid – sometimes you go up and other times you go down. After achieving a one-two in qualifying this morning, I have to admit that I was hoping for a little more. However, the races are tomorrow and that’s what counts. Both riders have made race simulations today and covered a full race distance on the tyres. We’ll make some minor adjustments for tomorrow’s warm-up but I don’t think we’ll have any problem with top speed tomorrow and we’ll be able to run at the front. This season we haven’t been as ready to race as we are for tomorrow so we’re all looking forward to it.”

Karl Muggeridge – fourth fastest, 1m48.054s: “Oh, man – that’s frustrating. It just all went wrong at the braking point at the end of the start finish straight and the first chicane was just horrible. I think I was about ninth after the first split – six tenths down – which shows how badly it was messed up. The rest of the lap went great and I managed to climb back to the front row. It’s a shame because I’ve been comfy all weekend, since the first session on Friday morning. We’ve been moving the package forward in each session since then and that allowed me to be fastest going into Superpole. That’s the nature of the event though. I’m real happy on my race tyre and confident of battling well at the front but, for sure, pole would have been great.”

Chris Vermeulen – fifth fastest, 1m48.128s: “It’s a Superpole thing. Second fastest after qualifying and then you sit around for 40 minutes waiting for your turn. It was the same for me here last year – I was just so conscious of trying not to mess up the lap that I braked a little too early for the first chicane and that was it. Having said that, the bike is so much better here and it’s been getting better all weekend. I’m happy with the race set-up we have and the tyres we’re going to run with. I think we’ll be up at the front tomorrow but it’s going to be really tough.”

Supersport

Sébastien Charpentier and Katsuaki Fujiwara will start tomorrow’s fourth round World Supersport championship race from first and second places on the grid respectively after setting the fastest times in this afternoon’s final qualifying session at Monza in Italy.

In warm sunshine and hotter temperatures than yesterday, the Winston Ten Kate Honda duo struggled at times to circulate alone on the 5.8km Monza circuit, with many riders seeking to maximise the benefit from the slipstreams created by their Honda CBR600RRs

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “Sébastien and Katsuaki both suffered with other riders trying to follow them and match their lap times. I’m surprised that some of them clearly don’t want to win and a lot are local riders so you’d think they would know their way round Monza by know. It’s a shame because it seems to diminish the fantastic job that both the riders and the team have been doing. It may look easy from the time sheets but I can assure you it’s all very hard work. I am very proud of everybody – especially the composure shown by both riders this afternoon.”

Sébastien Charpentier – fastest, 1m51.730s - “Sometimes it was very difficult for me to concentrate out there this afternoon. I know Monza is a high speed circuit with a strong tow, but every time I left the pit box and looked behind me there are a surprising number of riders leaving their pit box too! They seemed to attach themselves to Katsuaki later on so I was able to get the track to myself and improve yesterday’s time. The gearing is perfect, the bike feels fantastic and I made many good laps on race tyre tyres. I’m in good physical shape so I think you can say I’m ready for tomorrow’s race which is very important for the championship.”

Katsuaki Fujiwara – second fastest, 1m52.126s - “The track temperature was higher for today’s qualifying and the bike was sliding around a lot more than yesterday. But it’s OK for me and the CBR is feeling very strong and stable. Towards the end of the session, I found it very difficult to get away from other riders. At one point I looked behind me and saw about 12 of them – the rest of the track must have been nearly empty! I had to wait and wait to go by myself and did my fastest lap right at the end. It’s important to get a good start tomorrow – for sure, Sébastien is strong again but I will be trying very hard for another win here.”