With five races left to run in the 2005 World Supersport season, including Brands Hatch this weekend, there is no shortage of would-be winners from Honda’s supported rider line up at the biggest event on the current calendar. Of 21 podium places on offer in 2005 thus far, Honda CBR600RR riders have taken all but five of them, at such diverse tracks as Phillip Island and Valencia, and four of the top five positions in the championship table are occupied by Honda riders.

Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) has been enjoying an unprecedented level of personal success in the Supersport series this year, using his new model CBR peerlessly to sweep to five wins in only seven events. Just to add the final tier of icing to the cake, he has finished second in the only two races he has not won, at Qatar and Monza. His regular team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) was the victor in these other two events, and with the momentum of a second place finish at the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hour race last weekend, he will be
out for win number three.

The Winston Ten Kate Honda riders have not had it all their own way in the most recent events, as Fujiwara missed the previous Brno round through injury, and the Team Italia Megabike Honda squad has found some missing early season pace the very top of the range. Hence Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) and Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) sit fourth and fifth overall respectively, despite losing points due to DNFs at key races.

Class rookie Tatu Lauslehto (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) approaches Brands as the only Klaffi Honda rider once more, and Brands is yet another new track for the reigning European Champion to learn at race pace.

It is Charpentier that we must look to as the most likely victor, despite his strong clutch of challengers. After a recent test session, he feels even more prepared than usual to take his first Brands Hatch win in the full FIM World Championship.

“We had a good test at Lausitzring and managed a very good lap time as we continue to look for new ways to improve the bike,” said an understandably buoyed Charpentier. “I’m looking forward to seeing Kats back in the team after his injury and his good performance at Suzuka. I like Brands Hatch very much – the track is good and there are so many people, including a lot of French fans who make the trip over. I have been on the podium for the last two years there, third in 2003 and second behind Karl Muggeridge last year, but only after I led for nearly all the race. I’m hoping to go to the top step this year and to improve my championship advantage again.”

Fujiwara is rapt in his anticipation of a good result at Brands, and knows he’s got what it takes after securing the race win in 2002.

“I’m looking forward to joining the team again after what seems like a long time out,” said Fujiwara. “After Misano, I hurt my back testing for the 8-hour but I’ve had some good recovery time at home in Japan and I’ve been taking heaps of calcium to speed up the healing process. Chris (Vermeulen) and I got a good result at Suzuka, which was my best ever finish there, so I’m hoping to bring that form back to Europe. It will be a little strange riding the CBR600RR again after six weeks away but Brands Hatch is OK for me and I won the Supersport race there in 2002. I want to win to close the gap on Sébastien, so I’ll be trying my hardest again this weekend.”

Foret loves the surroundings of Brands Hatch, even if it is not his absolute best circuit in terms of previous results.

"Brands is a track not so lucky for me but I have always enjoyed beautiful races in the last years,” said Honda’s second fast French rider. “I hope to return on the podium in Brands Hatch because I want to cancel the bad race of Brno. I don’t know what's happened to my rear tyre there, but I know that I will give my all to take the second position in championship. I'm satisfied for the feeling with the guys of my team and for the level of my Honda CBR. It’s now near to the two Winston Ten Kate machines. I hope for a lot from Brands".

Fabrizio, energised by a fine second at Brno, is ready to continue his fightback.

"Now I am going through a good period,” said a relieved Fabrizio, after two previous no scores. “I will arrive in Brands Hatch after a fantastic race at Brno, where I finished not so far from Charpentier. The level of my bike has increased during the last rounds and I believe that will improve again at this difficult English track. I've never run there but I know that is similar to Mugello and Imola, tracks I love so much. My target will be to learn the corners of Brands quickly and, after, I want to attack the podium again."

Lauslehto, learning every weekend in this most intense of racing academies, is in for another high-speed semester this weekend – but has two good tutors helping him with his homework.

“Brands is one the tracks which is new for me again, like many of them this year. My team-mates in the Superbike side of the garage, Frankie Chili and Max Neukirchner, have already given me a lot of tips and the track looks fantastic on TV. After all of their comments about the circuit, I really can’t wait to ride there.”

World Superbike Round 8 of 12

BRANDS HATCH CHALLENGE OFFERS OPPORTUNITIES

The endless rolling curvature of Brands Hatch, plus the lack of places to relax along its 4.2km length makes the British track an intense experience on a 1000cc Superbike - yet all Honda’s supported CBR1000RR riders approach it with a keen sense of anticipation.

After some difficult periods at the start of the year Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) has notched up a race win, and most recently a podium at Brno, to sit second in the championship series, 94 points behind distant leader Troy Corser.

World Superbike’s charismatic elder-statesman, Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) matches his start number of seven with his championship position right now, and is still looking for his first 2005 podium. A true fan of Brands, and with many true fans of Frankie in the stands, the quintessentially English track may be his best chance of a podium yet.

In 11th and 12th places respectively Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) and Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) have had up and down seasons in the rookie SBK campaigns, with Neukirchner already on the podium and Muggeridge (a double Brands Supersport winner) yet to land a finish inside the top three.

Former double Brands World Superbike race winner Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji CBR1000RR) hopes for a great improvement in his overall package to allow him to challenge in the fashion of seasons gone by.

Vermeulen acknowledges that along with the unique charm of Brands Hatch, there are additional pressures on this particular weekend.

“I'm feeling pretty pumped after the good result for Kats (Fujiwara) and I at the Suzuka 8-hour,” said Vermeulen, still running on adrenaline from his Suzuka weekend. “Now I have to make the switch back to my Ten Kate Honda, which feels like a completely different machine to the full HRC bike I rode in Japan on Michelin tyres. We had a good test at Lausitzring before going to the 8-hour, though, and made some more progress with the bike. There's a lot of work to do in the championship and I have to be aiming at finishing in front of Troy (Corser) to try and close the gap on him. But it's going to be tough because I've never done well at Brands Hatch. I like the layout of the track but it's dangerous in places. I'll have a lot of friends supporting me though, which will be important because it's a big event and the British crowd will be cheering for Walker and Toseland. But England is like my second home really, so, as always, I'll just be trying as hard as I can.”

Memories of a close run second at Brands Hatch in 2004 are all the motivation Chili requires to dig that bit deeper in qualifying and racing to secure a much-desired podium.

“The 2004 race was a crazy thing. After only three laps there was a crash and a restart was necessary,” said Chili. “I started from 5th position in the second part of the race - and opened the throttle hard! After a few laps I was second, with only Noriyuki Haga in front of me. In the last lap I passed him and was the first to cross the finishing line. But we had an aggregate of the two parts of the race and so I was only second on the podium. Haga was declared the winner by a very, very small margin. Brands Hatch is great and I like the track very much. I hope to be on the podium again this year and for sure this would be a pleasure for all my fans in Great Britain.”

Another former UK-based Aussie rider returns to his second alma mater of the year, after Silverstone in late May. He knows he has unfinished machine set-up business to take care of, but is another rider with positive recent
memories of Brands.

“Our test at Lausitzring after the last round at Brno gave us the chance to do some more work at finding grip and durability from the tyres in a race situation and that should help us to move forward at Brands Hatch,” he acknowledged. “We still need to find something with the front of the bike but we know what we're looking for and we'll use the first sessions at Brands to develop that. I got my first World Supersport win at Brands Hatch and I won again there last year on my way to the title, so I have good memories of the place. It's the biggest event on the calendar but this my first time here on the Superbike so I'll do what I've been doing all season and work steadily towards a good set-up for race day. I need a couple of solid results here, so the team and I are going to be working really hard to achieve that.”

Fast young German rider Neukirchner only knows Brands from his lone World Supersport season in 2004, but even now he is a fan of its intricacies, on and off track. “Brands is always a challenge. It is like a roller coaster and a real attraction,” he beamed. “At Brands the fans liven things up a lot. Many of them stay the whole weekend at the racetrack and it is like an immense party. It’s a hard circuit to ride by my physical feeling is good and I am ready.”

Both Superbike and Supersport series enjoy a three-weekend break from on-track action for the remainder of August. Another classic SBK venue, Assen, will host round nine of each 12-round series, from 2 – 4 September.

The championship then returns to the Lausitzring in Germany one weekend after that.