VERMEULEN THE DOUBLE WINNER FOR TEN KATE HONDA - PERFECT HOMECOMING FOR WINSTON TEN KATE TEAM A superb weekend of work for the Dutch-based Winston ten Kate Honda squad saw their most experienced Superbike racer, Chris Vermeulen, take both race wins at Assen. Intense battles with Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga and Ducati Xerox’s lone runner James Toseland resulted in some outstanding entertainment for the 80,000 weekend spectators, who enjoyed a dry and sunny race weekend at the classic SBK venue.

RACE ONE With Noriyuki Haga on the holeshot, it took some time for Vermeulen to hit the lead, but as soon as he did, he was away and gone, winning by 3.3 seconds, and easing up on the final lap. Toseland and Haga had a classic scrap for the vast majority of the race, with constant overtakes from Haga on the usually dominant Toseland. Having got just enough lead to make his second place safe, Toseland took his first podium since the first leg of the Brno meeting, on July 17.
For the first time this year, Troy Corser did not score a podium finish, despite running up front for most of the race.
Wild card Suzuki rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Rizla Suzuki) collided with Chris Walker, and Walker’s subsequent crash meant he received a broken elbow, and was out for the rest of the meeting.

RACE TWO A difficult start to the second race nonetheless ended in Vermeulen’s second victory in a few hours, as he swept through to the lead on lap eight, then had to give best to Haga, before storming through in the final two laps, holding off Haga by a final 0.085 seconds, after some outstandingly hard passes between the two. James Toseland could not quite stick with the final pace on his big vee twin, finishing three seconds down.

CORSER OFF PODIUM FOR THE FIRST TIME – TWICE Troy Corser’s immaculate season on the Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki came to an end at Assen, as he not once, but twice, failed to get onto the podium, as he had done in every previous 2005 race. Such was the pace of his opposition that he finished fourth on two occasions, with his engine set-up just a tad off compared to previous events. Corser’s team-mate, Yukio Kagayama, had two differing results, one 11th place and a first race sixth. Corser was followed home, after some initially robust action, by Haga’s team-mate Andrew Pitt, having his best overall meeting of the year. His two fifths strengthen his ninth place in the title chase. Winston Ten Kate Honda rider, Karl Muggeridge, went ninth and eighth, experiencing cramps and numbness in his right hand due to his Brands Hatch injury and then a lack of rear traction in race two.

PRIVATE’S PARADE Lorenzo Lanzi (SC Caracchi Ducati) proved adept once more in his rookie SBK season, taking seventh in race one, and an impressive sixth in the second race, holding off some much more experienced riders. Max Neukirchner’s eighth in race one also improved to seventh in the second running, bringing some cheer to the Klaffi Honda squad. Pierfrancesco Chili, struggling with machine set-up, was once more in comparatively lowly positions on his Klaffi machine, tenth in race one and only just in the points with 14th in race two. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) suffered a breakdown after his radiator was holed in race one, but improved to ninth in race two. He was one place ahead of the still delicate Ben Bostrom, suffering the after effects of a crash in testing. His second race tenth came after an 18th place in the opener.

PETRONAS IN THE POINTS Garry McCoy (Petronas FP-1) overcame a lowly qualifying weekend to score points in both races, thanks to a 13th in the opener and a 12th in race two. His team-mate Steve Martin, was 13th in the first 16-lap event, but dropped back to 16th in the later race.

CHAMPIONSHIP HOTS UP With Vermeulen’s first 2005 double win in the bag, Corser’s championship lead has been cut to 86 points, 370 to Vermeulen’s 284. Laconi’s non-attendance through practice injury sees him static in third place on 214. Haga moves to 203 points, with Toseland on 197, one weekend before the next round at Lausitzring in Germany.

WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) had to give best in the race to the last French rider to win the World Supersport Championship - but in finishing second in the 16-lap race Charpentier took his first World title, with three races to spare. The race winner was Fabien Foret, the champ in 2002, while his team-mate Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike Honda) ran out third. Yamaha Motor Germany rider Kevin Curtain was fourth after a dogged ride on his R6, while Charpentier’s main pre-race championship threat – his own team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara, finished fifth. Gianluca Nannelli (SC Caracchi Ducati) missed the race, dislocating bones in his foot in warm-up.

SUPERSTOCK FIM 1000 CUP Alessandro Polita (Celani Suzuki) capitalised on a last corner crash between leader Craig Coxhell (EMS Suzuki) and long time race leader Kenan Sofuoglu (Yamaha Motor Germany) taking his first race win of the 2005 season. Sofuoglu recovered to finish third, behind his team-mate Didier Vankeymeulen, with Coxhell picking himself up to finish 11th. In the championship Sofuoglu still has an impressive lead of 24 points, but Coxhell has dropped to fourth overall.

EUROPEAN SUPERSTOCK 600 After a red flag incident stopped the first running of the race, the event was completed after the second Superbike race. It was won by Claudio Corti (Trasimeno Yamaha) who extends his championship lead to 161 points to 110, with three races to go.