Superbike

Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s two fifth round World Superbike championship races from the second row of the grid after setting the fifth fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole event at Silverstone, GB. Japan’s Yukio Kagayama will start from pole position, with Vermeulen’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Karl Muggeridge, eleventh fastest.

Going last into Superpole after setting the fastest time in regulation qualifying, Vermeulen was able to improve his best time by three tenths of a second in the blustery conditions and was just one tenth of a second off a possible front row start.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “Dropping back from first to fifth place is, of course, disappointing for Chris and the team but that is how it goes in Superpole sometimes. It seems that the one-lap format is not suiting us so well this season. But Chris is ready for tomorrow’s two 28-lap races which will be long and red hot. We still have some work to do with Karl’s set-up tonight and we will try to improve things in warm-up tomorrow. He liked the setting changes we made this afternoon and simulated a race distance on one tyre.”

Chris Vermeulen – fifth fastest, 1m27.261s: “I don’t really like going last in Superpole – sitting in the box watching everyone else go and waiting for my turn is difficult. When I finally got out there, I didn’t really push as hard as I might have anywhere – even though everything felt pretty good. I was aiming for around a 1m26.9s lap and I could have been a bit quicker with another lap, I guess. It would have been nice to put a qualifier in during free practice to get a feel for it but we had some problems with the battery and then the brakes, so we ran out of time. A good start is going to be critical tomorrow because it’s going to be very hard to pass here, so I really need to be at the front in the first couple of laps.”

Karl Muggeridge – eleventh fastest, 1m28.014s: “We changed a lot for this afternoon’s free practice session which certainly improved things but there’s still some way to go. We need to absorb the bumps a lot more, get the bike to turn better and get the power down – everything, really! The strong wind today made Superpole a bit of a lottery and I got a really strong gust just as I went on to the back straight that nearly had me off the track. I need a really good start tomorrow if I’m to continue the progress we made at Monza, so we’ll try a few things in warm-up and see how it goes.”

Supersport

Sébastien Charpentier will start tomorrow’s fifth round World Supersport championship race at Silverstone, GB from pole position after setting the fastest time in today’s final qualifying session, which was run in much cooler and windier conditions than yesterday. It marks the Frenchman’s fifth consecutive pole start in this year’s series and maintains his 100% record in qualifying.

Charpentier’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Katsuaki Fujiwara, was unable to improve his time from yesterday’s qualifying session following a crash in this morning’s free practice. The Japanese rider will start from sixth place on the grid for tomorrow’s 28-lap race at the 3.56km International circuit at Silverstone.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “That’s five in a row for Sébastien and the impressive thing about today’s performance was that he achieved pole position on his chosen race tyres. There may be a little fine tuning in tomorrow morning’s warm-up but he is essentially ready for tomorrow’s race. His lap times are really impressive given that fact that it is much colder and windier than yesterday. Kats was struggling a little after his crash this morning but I have no doubt he will bounce back tomorrow and be running at the front again.”

Sébastien Charpentier – fastest, 1m28.750s - “For me everything is great. We made some chassis improvements from yesterday and I was able to go faster in spite of the conditions. I have been testing two slightly different engine set-ups today because we need a very strong mid-range here. Twice this afternoon I was going for even faster laps but I was held up by slower riders. But the chassis is good and I need to be comfortable because the race will be very hard tomorrow. The circuit is very bumpy and there is no chance to rest.”

Katsuaki Fujiwara – sixth fastest, 1m29.911s - “I was trying a slightly different front fork setting this morning and lost the front in the fast left hander after Bridge. My left shoulder and arm are quite sore but otherwise I was OK. It made it difficult to go faster this afternoon, especially in the different conditions, but I will need a good start tomorrow so that I can run at the front again. I have the taste for winning after Monza and I want to win again here.”