Superbike Race 1

Winston Ten Kate Honda’s Chris Vermeulen finished second 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, following which, grip problems forced Vermeulen to conserve his tyres as well as he could. 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.”

Chris Vermeulen - second - “I hope they reduce the second race to twenty laps because everyone is really struggling out there! It’s not the heat because physically I’m not too bad. It’s just that it makes the track so slippery that there was virtually no grip at all towards the end of the race. I tried to look after my tyres as much as possible but, talking to the other riders on the podium, it seems everyone was suffering from the same problems. We can ride around some problems but, when there’s no grip, you can’t really compensate.”

Karl Muggeridge - tenth - “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.”

Superbike Race 2

Chris Vermeulen took another second place finish in the second of today’s two World Superbike championship sixth round races at Misano in Italy. With temperatures once again reaching the mid-thirties, the Winston Ten Kate Honda rider finished behind today’s double winner, Regis Laconi, with series leader Troy Corser taking another third place. Vermeulen’s fellow Australian and team-mate, Karl Muggeridge, again started well, but a debilitating stomach ailment dropped him to seventh place at the flag.

Another good start saw Vermeulen lead the early stages of the race but falling grip levels did not allow him to maintain his advantage. After the interview commitments following race two, Vermeulen took a helicopter to Bologna airport with team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara. The Winston duo is flying to Japan this evening for an HRC test at Suzuka starting on Tuesday morning.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “I think that, with the new components we have and the changed set-up to the bike, we can say that the hunting season is open for the second half of the championship. Chris rode very well today and, although he has only taken eight points out of Corser’s lead, the hot conditions made it very hard for everyone. Karl went on a drip between the two races to replace lost fluid but his illness would explain his lap times falling and the drop from his qualifying performance. We’re now looking forward to Brno and then a test straight afterwards at Lausitzring which should allow us to find that missing element for the second half of the season.”

Chris Vermeulen - second - “I was a little closer to Regis (Laconi) that time but the important thing was that I finished ahead of Troy in both races. Regis was really strong today and, although I was OK through the faster parts of the circuit, where I could pick up a tenth or two, I had very little grip in the tighter sections. I nearly lost it in the last chicane on virtually every lap. It was hard work in the heat and doubly hard having to compensate for no grip and the last five laps were really tough. We’ve still got a few things to work on on the bike but I’m looking forward to Brno now. I’ve never been there before but I’d never been to Laguna Seca before last season and managed to do the double there. I’d love to do the same again.”

Karl Muggeridge - seventh - “I really think that without Clinica Mobile I wouldn’t have been able to do the second race today. They dosed me up with some fluids after race one, when I was just riding around really. I didn’t feel too bad at the start of race two but about six laps from the end I was getting a little queasy again. It’s a real shame because I was so much happier on the bike this weekend. We’ve still got some work to do here and there, and I guess there’ll always be something we feel we can improve. But I felt we’d made a big step forward here and it’s a shame I wasn’t able to capitalise on it. I’ll get over this bug and move on to Brno, where I hope we can turn the progress into some good results.”

Supersport Race

Winston rider Sébastien Charpentier scorched to his fourth win of the season in this afternoon’s sixth round World Supersport championship race at Misano, Italy. In doing so, the Frenchman secured his Ten Kate team’s tenth successive World Supersport victory.

Charpentier’s team-mate, Katsuaki Fujiwara, finished the 23-lap race around the 4.060km Misano circuit in third place, behind Frenchman Fabien Foret on another Honda CBR600RR.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “Even though our string of pole positions ended during qualifying here, our race wins continue to rack up, which is fantastic for the whole team. We could all see what a hard race it was – both on the tyres and the riders but Sébastien put the hammer down towards the end of the race and that caused Foret some problems. Today’s win is special because it hasn’t been an easy weekend for the team. We’ve concentrated from the first free practice on getting a good race setting and that strategy has been justified with our results today.”

Sébastien Charpentier – first - “I’m so happy because Misano is one of my least favourite circuits and it has not been easy this weekend. I’ve had a couple of crashes and the conditions have been very difficult to set up the bike properly. After a strange start, when the lights were doing some strange things, I managed to settle into a rhythm and actually enjoyed the race. It was great fun and I feel OK because I am in good physical shape. The result is very good for the championship and a great reward for the team, whom I thank for all their hard work this weekend.”

Katsuaki Fujiwara – third - “It was a really good race, although the start was a little mad with everyone going very fast into the first corner. But the tyres were sliding very much – not so bad on the slower corners but on the fast left handers going onto the back straight it was very, very difficult. For the last ten laps, the tyres were finished so I just had to ease back a little and take third place. Sébastien was riding very well and was using the same tyres as me, so maybe my setting could have been a little different.”