A crash suffered by second top place World Supersport rider Katsuaki Fujiwara, during testing for the Suzuka 8-Hour race in Japan has altered the line-up of the Winston Ten Kate Honda team for the forthcoming Czech round. Championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) will now be joined by 20-year-old Briton Craig Jones (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR), a front runner on a Honda in the British Supersport series.

As the previous round at Misano recently proved, there is no shortage of Honda talent on any race weekend, with Charpentier winning by 0.4 seconds from his fellow countryman Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR), and Fujiwara third.

Charpentier and Fujwara have scored four and two race wins respectively, in what has been a stellar season for the CBR600RR. Charpentier leads the series with 140 points to Fujiwara’s 106, with Foret fourth overall on 73.

Foret’s occasionally luckless team-mate Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) has already stepped on the podium this season, in this his first full year of active service in World Supersport. Two consecutive retirements have kept him in seventh place, on 42 points.

Finnish new-boy Tatu Lauslehto (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) has been learning the art of World Supersport racing after winning the European version last year, and is a respectable ninth overall.

Charpentier has been a sensation in partnership with his Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR, dropping only ten points from a possible 150 at the mid-season stage.

“I was very sorry when I heard about Kats crashing in Japan and look forward to welcoming him back to the team at the Brands Hatch round,” said Charpentier on the eve of the Brno experience. “He has given me the strongest challenge this season and has taken two race wins to show how strong he is. But I’m looking forward to welcoming Craig to the team and giving him whatever help I can. It’ll be good to know that he’s on our side for this race because he was certainly impressive at Silverstone in May. I’ve heard a lot about the Brno circuit and think that it will suit both my style and the CBR’s characteristics. I know our main challengers from both Honda and Yamaha have tested there already so we will need to get up to speed very quickly to help the championship, which is our overall priority.”

Fujiwara, unable to challenge for a potential third race win of the year at Brno, knows that he will be back soon, after his injuries have a chance to heal.

“I am very disappointed to miss Brno, especially as I am second in the championship behind my team-mate Sébastien,” said a rueful Fujiwara. “I was looking forward to the opportunity to close the gap with him but it looks like that will have to wait until Brands Hatch.”

Kats’ replacement at Brno, Craig Jones, regrets the way this opportunity came to pass, but is keen to make a positive impression.

“I feel very sorry for Kats and hope he recovers quickly but, as you can imagine, I am very excited to have been given this opportunity. I hope the fact that most of the other riders haven’t been to Brno either will give me a level playing field to start with, but I understand the team won’t put any pressure on me. I’m just really looking forward to the whole experience.”

Foret’s determination to win is legendary in World Supersport and with the mercurial Frenchman just missing victory at Misano last month, and having had a positive test at Brno recently, he feels a win is now within his grasp.

“In Brno we made a good test last month,” said Foret. “I like the track and there we resolved the problems with the suspension that permitted our fantastic race in Misano. In Brno, Fujiwara will be out: I'm not happy about his problem but I know that this is a good week-end to take important points to try and get second place of the championship. Now the bike is ready and I will start to repeat the Misano race, with a better result."

Fabrizio looks to a new challenge at Brno to rekindle his points scoring form

“Brno is a difficult circuit, with many aggressive corners,” said the young Roman. “The test we made there before Misano had a good result - for me, for the bike and the team. I hope only to finish the race, because I have been too unlucky for words during the last three rounds. I want to return on the podium and take important points. I know things may not look so great now, but I believe that I can finish top three by the end of the year.”

Lauslehto has had the benefit of a recent test at Brno, as he goes for more good points in his rookie season.

“In June we spent some days testing at Brno,” said the Finn. “That was my first time riding at this track but after a short time I had set some quite fast lap times. I like Brno very much and after the good experience in June I hope to achieve a top ten position in the race.”

World Superbike Round 7 of 12

HONDA SUPERBIKE RIDERS READY FOR REVISITED BRNO

With the Brno race approaching the quintet of supported Honda CBR1000RR riders has already proven adept at the art of Superbike racing in this most competitive of years. Foremost among them in the points table is 2003 World Supersport Champion Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR), with a single 2005 SBK race win to his credit so far, and an overall second place in the Championship at midseason.

Week-on-week consistency has been a difficult thing for most competitors in SBK to achieve this year; such are the numbers of closely matched machines from a variety of sources. The most experienced rider of them all, Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR), is in eighth position in the points table after the Misano midseason.

Vermeulen’s team-mate and compatriot Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) has made strides forward in his rookie season of SBK competition, the 2004 World Supersport Champion now sitting tenth overall out of 35 points scorers thus far.

Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) continues to fight back to the dazzling form he showed early in the season, when he scored a podium finish at Phillip Island, in only his second ever SBK outing.

Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji CBR1000RR) has had some dreadful misfortunes in races this year, but he and his new team have long since started to gel all the elements together step by step.

Vermeulen is ready for another new World Superbike experience, at a track not used for SBK racing since 1996.

"I’m looking forward to the new challenge that Brno brings and excited about going to a new track,” said Vermeulen, “I’ve spoken to a few other guys who have raced there in MotoGP and it seems to be one of their favourites because it’s fast and flowing. It’s a shame we haven’t been able to test there but with only two test tracks allowed, there’s always going to be a compromise. It’s certainly going to be difficult going out on the first day but we’ll hopefully get up to speed quickly enough because the bike’s been getting better and better over the last few rounds. I’ve spoken to the guys back at the workshop and they’ve got a couple of new things for us to try.”

Chili’s advanced experience in SBK makes him only one of two current SBK racers to have previous Superbike race time at Brno.

“When I saw that Brno was on the 2005 schedule I was really happy about it. In 1996 I finished only 10th and 8th at Brno but this time the conditions, with the Klaffi Honda Fireblade, are much better for me. After Misano we focused on the setting of the suspension. Now everything is perfect and - with some luck - a place on the podium may be possible.”

Muggeridge looks to Brno as another challenge, especially given the spread of differing talents and testing experiences he will be up against.

“I’ve heard Brno is pretty quick but pretty bumpy, too, so that could throw up one or two problems,” stated Muggeridge. “I’ll make sure I get lots of laps in on a scooter as soon as I arrive to get myself properly familiar with it. We’ll be playing a bit of catch up with those who have already tested and one or two ex-GP riders who I’m sure will remember which way it goes. The championship hasn’t been there for a few years either so hopefully that might give us a bit of an advantage.”

Neukirchner positively glows with the prospect of racing a Superbike at Brno, an unusual circuit for him, in that he has great experience of it.

“Brno is my favourite race track,” stated Neukirchner, with some feeling. “I have know Brno since my first years as a rider, when I participated in the German Junior Cup and the national 125cc championship. The long, fast turns and the general layout of the track are ideal, and in such conditions it is necessary to open the throttle as much as you can, especially uphill.
I’m looking forward to riding there again.”

Bostrom’s lack of experience at Brno will not help his attempt to get on fully competitive terms, but he remains as upbeat as ever.

“I’ve never been there before, but I understand quite a few of our rivals have tested. We will have to put in a lot of hard work but that’s to be expected at a new track.”

After the relative novelty of Brno, an old WSS and SBK favourite occupies the next place on the calendar – Brands Hatch. The second British-based event of the year is held at the historic and undulating Kent venue on August 7th.