WSB Rd. 8, Brands Hatch, UK, Sunday 7th August, 2005
Weather: sunny R1 19°C, R2 22°C
Track: dry, R1 25°C, R2 , 32°C
Spectators: (108’000 overall 3 days)

Race 1:
Winston Ten Kate Honda rider, Karl Muggeridge, finished in sixth position at the opening race of the 8th round of the World Superbike Championship here at Brands Hatch in the UK.

Muggas bumped the start a little bit but still found himself second in the first corner in a tough fight with Corser and Haga. At the end of lap five Laconi made a bit a hard move on him an squezzed himself passed Muggas which cost him a bit of time. After about 15 laps Muggas rear grip dropped dramatically off and he didn’t had a chance to get up any further on the lap sheet as his rear was spinning every where.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager:
“The results are a little disappointing, for sure. Karl was doing very well in the first part of the race and underlining his qualifying position but his rear grip started to drop off five or six laps before the leading bunch. I’m sure that a couple of changes for the second race will see him move up in the results.”

Karl Muggeridge - sixth
“We haven’t quite got the rear setting right and that’s what caused the grip to drop off after around 15 laps. I was running pretty comfortably at the start but it’s so difficult to pass anyone here and when I got passed by Laconi coming out of Clearways, it was hard to put a move back on him. I think we can make a little change to the rear to improve things for race two just to stop the rear spinning up so much.”


Race 2:
In front of a typically large Brands Hatch crowd who watched five different manufacturers fill the first five positions, Winston Ten Kate Honda’s Karl Muggeridge crashed out of third place on the second of 25 laps around the 4.2 km Kent circuit, breaking a small bone in his right hand.

Muggas got it checked out in the Clinic Mobile and they reckon it should heal pretty quick within the next ten to fourteen days. Nevertheless his quite disappointed as the bike was feeling really good in the second race and had so much more grip.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager:“That’s bad luck for Karl who was doing well from second place on the grid and feeling good on the bike. I think that a podium was possible for him today and it would certainly have been deserved. We’re looking forward to our home race at Assen in three weeks, where we’ll be looking for some more success.”

Karl Muggeridge comments:“I’m pretty upset with myself to be honest. Haga had just passed me on the inside at turn three and I was trying to square off the corner and get him back at the next one. I just gave it too much and the bike let go and spat me off. I think I tried to hold onto it a little too long because I’ve cracked a little bone in my hand. It’s nothing too serious and should heal pretty well in a couple of weeks. It’s such a shame because the changes we made to the bike after race one were spot on and it felt really sweet. I reckon I could have been on for a good result but I’ll just have to try for that again at Assen.”