WSB Rd. 8, Brands Hatch, UK, Saturday 6th August, 2005
Weather: overcast, morning 18° C, afternoon 19° C
Track: dry, morning 23° C, afternoon 25° C

2nd Qualifying
Winston Ten Kate rider Karl Muggeridge qualified 9th fastest for this afternoon’s Superpole lap and wasn’t quite a happy fellow with the handling of his CBR 1000. But as they tried so many things this morning they found some solutions to the problems and look forward to give them a go in the afternoon.

Karl comments: “We tried everything this morning from different shocks to different links, front settings and so on… a bit too much really, which cost me some confidence as the bike was different every time we went out. We found a better rear, in the afternoon practice we will try to work a bit on the front but mainly I got to get some laps under my belt. I only just managed to put a Q in and do one lap on it in the dying seconds of the sessions, where as it could be used for about three, which helps to get the time down.

Superpole:
Karl Muggeridge will start tomorrow’s two eighth round World Superbike championship races at Brands Hatch in the UK from the front row of the grid after setting the second fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole event. Fellow Australian, Troy Corser, grabbed pole position by 0.161 seconds, with Brit James Toseland in third and his team-mate Laconi in fourth position.

After earlier struggling to find the right setting for his Superbike debut at the 4.2km Kent circuit, Muggeridge improved on his regulation qualifying position of ninth place in the one-lap Superpole shoot-out and also found a much better race setup in the afternoon’s session for tomorrow’s two 25 lap races.

Muggas comments: “We started the free practice session before the Superpole lap with a completely different bike and it felt so much better straight away. It was nice and fun to ride it, as for before it was handling like a wild animal. I was a bit to keen on the Superpole lap and had the gas open a bit too early, especially on the last corner. I really wanted pole position and made a mistake going for that important final drive to the line. The bike probably looked a bit out of shape but it was really my wrist! It’s my best qualifying performance and we’ve made a jump forward with the bike. Brands Hatch is one of my favourite circuits so I’ll be looking for two really good results tomorrow.”

Ronald ten Kate – team manager:” After all the team’s work and the riders’ performances this weekend, I think we deserved two front row places. Karl made an excellent Superpole lap apart from a small mistake on the final corner, losing time that may have cost him his first pole position. We’re quite happy with the race settings for both riders and I’m sure there will be two good battles out there tomorrow afternoon.”