Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) battled hard for his sixth win of the 2005 championship series, having to put in a final lap effort of outstanding effectiveness to win the Brands Hatch race by just under one second. It was his fellow Honda rider, Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) who caused him most concern over all 25 laps, as he was the only rider to match Charpentier’s pace around the warm tarmac of Brands Hatch. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha) was a close, but unthreatening, third, with private Honda entrant Stephane Chambon in fourth.

Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) was fifth after sliding back from potential contention for a podium, while Suzuka 8-Hour podium rider Katsuaki Fujiwara (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) battled for his sixth place finish.

Finnish rider Tatu Lauslehto (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) was eased off track at one stage and had to use all his fighting instincts in a group of sometimes five riders, battling for the same stretch of tarmac. He finished 14th, taking two more championship points.

Charpentier is now potentially only one race from the championship outright, as he enjoys a lead of 74 points over teammate Fujiwara. He also left Brands with a new qualifying track record for Supersport, 1’28.376.

“It was a very good race and Michel was in very good form today, and pushed me all the way,” stated Charpentier. “He was very fast when he was behind me but, whenever he got in front, he slowed the pace and was gesturing for me to get back in front. I had no problems today and I was able to push a bit harder towards the end to make things a bit more comfortable. It’s another complete weekend, with fastest lap, pole position and the race win.
It just shows how good the bike is and how hard the team has worked.”

Fabrizio followed up his recent Brno race second with another runner up sport, almost moving to fourth in the championship, with four rounds remaining.

“I pushed hard all race but I think I chose a slightly too soft rear tyre to be able to stay with Sebastien on the last lap,” said Fabrizio. “Our engine was not quite as powerful as his and we had some trouble in practice with our set-up, so second is a good finish in my first Supersport race here.”

Foret looked like he may find a podium spark at one stage but was quickly relegated to the second echelon of the race. He now sits fourth in the series, on 85 points.

“I got quite a bad start again," said Foret, “but tried to push hard later on to catch the two guys out in front. But I couldn’t do it and when Curtain came past I could not even follow him. A bad weekend for me, I am tired and I don’t feel too good. I had a little problem with the front but it is not only the bike. I do not feel so good in myself. I am not so strong at the moment.”

After racing at the Suzuka 8-Hour on Superbike spec machinery, Fujiwara was in good shape for his return to action in the Brands Supersport race, until a mid race fade.

“I didn’t get a very good start and lost contact with the leaders quite early. About halfway through the race I started to lose rear grip and was starting to slide into corners, then again as I accelerated out. I tried to spend the second half of the race trying to chase Foret and Chambon. But I could not get any closer to them. It was a shame because I was happy with my race set-up and the way I had adapted to riding the bike again.”

Lauslehto, in is first Brands race weekend, found the layout a challenge, as most rookie riders do at this venue. His 14th place leaves him on 42 points, tenth in the championship.

“I got run off the track by Fores at one point and lost places to another couple of riders,” said Lauslehto, in his first visit to the English venue.
“My engine temperature rose a little high as well and it was a real battle with so many riders. Some of them crashed out but I wanted to make sure I could finish the race.”

In the championship battle, Charpentier has 190 points, having only dropped ten points all year. Behind Fujiwara’s 116 Curtain has 109, Foret 85, and Fabrizio is a close fifth on 82.

Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) once more found himself in the eye of a storm of World Superbike competitiveness, this time under sunny English skies. He was to finish his race weekend with a fourth and third place, the highest placed of the Fireblade riders on display. He maintained his second place in the championship, now trailing race one winner and runaway championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki) by 110 points.

In the first race, Vermeulen was 4.5 seconds from the win, his front running teammate Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) strongly in the podium places until he dropped back to an eventual sixth.
Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR runner Max Neukirchner finished in the top ten, with Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda CBR1000RR Koji) was 12th. Struggling hard in the first race, Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) pulled out from a non-points scoring position, to make set-up changes for race two.

In the second 25-lap race, the increased pace of leading riders Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and Corser drew them eight seconds from Vermeulen in third.
Bostrom was next best Honda rider in tenth, ahead of 11th placed Neukirchner and a disgruntled Chili, 13th. Karl Muggeridge, who had just been passed by the aggressive Haga on lap two, applied too much throttle, and was spat over the top of his machine, cracking a bone in his hand in the ensuing crash.

Less than perfect starts, from a second row position did not help Vermeulen in his race day efforts.

"I just got another bad start in race two and it’s so difficult to pass the other guys because they are fast around here,” said Vermeulen, after his eighth podium finish of the year. “I was a little bit quicker than them but by the time I eventually got past the first two guys were gone. Although I could match their lap times, I couldn’t catch them. I eased up a little towards the end because there is no point crashing out. We changed the rear spring for race two and this definitely felt a little better.”

Muggeridge’s fractured hand is not expected to give any problems for the next round in Assen, but spoiled what was a promising race for Ten Kate’s other Aussie, who was firmly in the leading three until his crash on lap two.

“I’m pretty upset with myself to be honest,” stated the Swiss resident Aussie. “Haga had just passed me on the inside at turn three and I was trying to square of the corner and get back to the next one. I just gave it too much and it spat me off. I think I tried to hold onto it a little to long because I’ve cracked a small bone in my hand.”

Ben Bostrom, happy to be not just in the points but sometimes in the leading positions per se, sees his season moving in a new and more positive direction.

“The engine was the big change,” said Bostrom. “And the rider's computer is working better. We need two of the motors we had here for the next one and we'll keep going. We need to keep our momentum.”

Neukirchner had tough weekend in general, qualifying only 17th and missing Superpole.

“The second race was especially hard because the lap times were very fast in this race,” stated the young German flier. “Our lap times were not bad, and very constant but I am not in the top ten in this race. But with the problems we had in practice all of Friday and Saturday, we did not have great grid positions.”

Chili, looking for better at one of his favourite circuits of the year, knew his set-up was way off, as he too also missed out on Superpole qualification, and started from the fifth row.

“In the second race we modified the bike completely because things just did not work out in race one,” said Chili. “Any time I gave the throttle a turn in race one the bike was jumping across the track. We made a big change but it didn't give me a solution to go fast. I was riding very badly and I am not happy about any of it. Now we go home and we relax in readiness for Assen."

The next round at Assen takes place on September 4th.