Weather: sunny, 22° C
Track: dry, 30° C

Winston Ten Kate Honda’s Karl Muggeridge set the third fastest time in this afternoon’s first qualifying session of round 9 of the World Superbike Championship here at the revised 5.9 km Assen circuit in Holland.

Britain’s James Toseland took provisional pole position with series leader, Troy Corser, second fastest.

Muggas continuously progressed in this afternoon’s session and set his quickest race tyre time on 19 lap old rubber, which is quite promising, especially as the race is only 16 laps.

Muggas comments: “My qualifying lap was a pretty average with the old front I had in. But the bike’s been getting better on race tyres and we put a lot of laps on them. All in all we are going into the right direction. We decided to approach this weekend a bit different to the others to make sure we don’t end up with the same old grip problem in the race and getting shuffled backwards. This is definitely not what you enjoy! So today we started on the soft side rather than on the hard and see how far we can go with that until it gets terrible. The new bit on the track is not bad, I don’t mind it at all, the track still keeps its flow and it gave us a new challenge and a new passing opportunity.

Ronald Ten Kate, Team Manager: “I think that’s a pretty good start to the weekend for us. Both riders were quickly up to speed after the break following the last round at Brands Hatch. We still have some improvements to make on both sides of the garage but the consistent weather and dry weekend that’s been forecast will help us to work on those areas. We’re not quite there yet but the guys are up there were it matters and will be looking to go even better tomorrow”.