WSB Rd. 6, Misano, Italy, Sunday 26th June, 2005
Weather: sunny R1 32°C, R2 32°C
Track: dry, R1 48°C, R2 dry, 53°C
Spectators: (52’000 overall 3 days)

Race 1:
Winston Ten Kate Honda’s Karl Muggeridge finished tenth in an eventful, two-part opening race of the World Superbike championship sixth round at Misano, Italy today. The race was won by French rider Regis Laconi, after a red flag on lap six was followed by an aborted re-start.

After leading the second part of the 24-lapper around the 4.060km Misano circuit, Vermeulen and Muggeridge were separated by Laconi after three laps. With 10 laps to go Muggeridge was forced to slow down as the grip problems increased and he didn’t have much energy left to fight it due to a stomach problem he picked up the day before. Muggeridge eventually finished in tenth place.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “That was a hectic start to the race with a red flag early on and then the aborted re-start. It was certainly hard for the team in these hot conditions and unsettling for all the riders. It was a strong podium from Chris though, which helps his championship position. In the difficult conditions today, it was a top job, I think. Karl developed a bit of a stomach problem yesterday and it’s a little worse today and has left him with little energy. But we’ll try hard to search for some more grip in race two.”

Muggas comments: “A lot of problems, really – I’m not feeling so great with this stomach problem that just left me with no energy after seven or eight laps. On top of the other problems that everyone else seems to have, it was just really, really hard work. We make a couple of small changes for race two and I hope I’ll just feel a bit stronger.”

Race 2:
Australian Karl Muggeridge finished the second 25 lap race in seventh place after another good start of the grid, where as his team-mate Vermeulen took another second place finish and Laconi doubled up his victory.

Muggas spent most of the time between the two sessions in the Clinica Mobile to get his stomach sorted and get some fluids back into him, which helped a great deal and allowed him to take some valuable points to the next round.

Muggas comments: “That was really tough today with the heat and it didn’t help that I didn’t feel very well. But I think I’ve made the best out of it I could, but I gotta say without the guys from Clinica Mobile I wouldn’t have been able to start. Thanks guys!. We made some small adjustments to the bike after the first race and CBR 1000 felt pretty good. I should have really finished around my starting position if I was in better condition, so it’s really a shame I couldn’t make most out of this weekend. I’ll get myself sorted and look forward to Brno in three weeks time, as I know we made some good progress this weekend and are in the position to get them.”