A perfect 1-2 team performance in qualifying for Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) and Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) was mirrored in triumphant style in the 21-lap Imola race, with Charpentier finishing first and Sofuoglu second. Their points helped Honda win the Supersport Manufacturers’ Trophy for the fourth year in succession, with one race still to run.

The Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mates’ joint efforts took them almost ten seconds clear of championship leader Kevin Curtain, who was third at Imola.
Charpentier now enters the final round at Magny-Cours next weekend needing to make up an 18-point deficit to retain his champion status, having made great inroads into the 27-point disadvantage he suffered from before the Imola weekend.

A return to form for Katsuaki Fujiwara (Team Megabike Honda CBR600RR) saw him as high as third in the early order, mimicking his practice performance, but slowly dropping down to finish eighth, as his wrist injury slowed his progress. His team-mate, Yoann Tiberio (Team Megabike Honda
CBR600RR) finished ninth, after once more experiencing problems with set-up and ultimate traction.

Charpentier knows that Imola was an important step in his personal recuperation and championship challenge, and he is fully aware of the possibilities he has in front of his home fans next weekend.

“I am happy, because after the German race it was not easy for me in my head,” said Charpentier, clearly back his best after a tough mid-season, plagued by injuries. “Now, for sure, the victory was perfect for me, and my team, and Honda. This was very important for the championship, because the last race is in Magny-Cours, in France, and I hope to win again. The package of our bike and the choice of tyres were good today and my team-mate was very good. After my crash in Brno it was not easy, even if my hand was not completely perfect today, because I hurt it in Germany. The start was not ideal for me, but I closed the gap step-by-step. Robbin Harms crashed in front of me and it would have been easy to hit him or make a mistake. I have to say thanks to everyone for the good weekend we have enjoyed here. Sometimes it is not so easy, like after Germany, but thanks to everyone, the team and my family, for the good support.”

Sofuoglu’s fantastic start made the Imola event a straightforward one for him, and his personal aim of taking third in the championship is now right on schedule, as he has 137 points, compared to Curtain on 187, Charpentier on 169 and fourth place rider, Broc Parkes, on 129.

“Of course I am really happy with this race, and with Sebastien and I finishing first and second,” said Sofuoglu. “Sebastien was trying for the championship so I did not really try too hard - but Sebastien was already riding really fast anyway. We had good bikes and good set-up. I hope in Magny-Cours we can win the championship and I can be on the podium too. We will keep working hard and looking to next week.”

Fujiwara was disappointed to finish so low down after such a good start, but knew he had taken the best result he could. He now sits 12th in the championship, on 30 points.

"My wrist injury was better than before but there was still pain from my scaphoid,” said Fujiwara. “I was at least happier with my riding in the early laps and it was important that I qualified third to make a good start.”

Yoann Tiberio’s Imola is not one to be remembered fondly by the young Frenchman, especially after qualifying only 11th. He is seventh overall as he approaches his home race in Magny-Cours, with a total of 74 points.

"It was tough today and very difficult for the tyres,” said Tiberio. “I rode at my maximum all the race but it was dificult to find a good setting all weekend and that made it hard in the race.”

World Superbike Round 11 of 12

BARROS SCORES HIS FIRST SBK WIN AS TOSELAND REGAINS SECOND PLACE OVERALL

Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) scored his first SBK race win the hard way after a superb run from eighth on lap one of the opening 21-lap contest and he was only 1.413 seconds from the win in race two, after an even worse start from the second row of the grid. James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) was a lonely second in the first race and after scoring a fifth in race two, he promoted himself back to second overall, by two points, from Noriyuki Haga. The Riders’ Championship win was decided in favour of Troy Bayliss at Imola, but the Manufacturers’ Championship will not be awarded until the outcome of the Magny-Cours season finale in known.

Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) was eighth on two occasions, while Pierfrancesco Chili (DFX Treme Honda CBR1000RR) finished each race, but was out of the points each time, finishing 16th and 18th. Michel Fabrizio (DFX Treme Honda CBR1000RR) retired because of technical problems in each race.

Race one was the sole property of Barros, who came through from a careful first lap to score his first ever win in World Superbike, having been fast in regular qualifying, yet only eighth in Superpole. He was the quickest rider over a single in race one, setting a new lap record of 1m 50.266s and made his advantage in pace and set-up count with a clear victory over the only rider who could live with his charge for a time, James Toseland.
Andrew Pitt was third. Karl Muggeridge went eighth (after finishing Superpole 13th).

In race two Barros was arguably even more impressive than in race one, and with more two or three more laps would have caught and passed eventual winner Troy Bayliss. Toseland had to race his spare machine in race two, after experiencing some problems with the electronics on his new machine in race one. Third place went to Yukio Kagayama, with Toseland fifth, but ahead of his main rival Haga.

Toseland moves from third to second overall after Imola, with Bayliss on 393 points, Toseland 295, Haga 293 and Pitt 239. Barros is now fifth, with 231 points, while Muggeridge is 12th on 113, only four points behind the non-scoring Fabrizio.

Toseland’s aim now that the championship win has become a mathematical impossibility is to finish second overall, and he made some progress at Imola, if not quite as much as he wanted.

“I didn’t get a perfect start in race one but it was OK,” said Toseland.  “In the second one we used the spare bike and it started off OK but then the clutch released and started to grab and I went back to eighth or ninth and lost a lot of time. I wanted to pull some good points back to Haga today, not just a couple. The battle for me after race one, when Bayliss took the title, was for second in the championship, and I beat Haga in both races. I need to go to Magny-Cours now and make sure I finish the job to be runner-up in this championship.”

Barros had to work hard for his win and second place and had to avoid some early problems in race one.

“In the first race I was held up by two crashes,” said Barros. “So I did not get away with the leaders. I really had to try hard to avoid Xaus, and then I just got my head down to get with the leaders. I knew that the last ten laps would be critical for the tyres so it was good that I could set fast lap times all the way through and I could go away from the rest of the leaders.”

Muggeridge had an eventful raceday, with niggling problems getting in the way of a better pair of results.

“I had a better ride in race two, and a better start,” said Muggeridge at the end of raceday, “but I got held up by Neukirchner, and he held me up for ages. Then Corser as well. It meant I lost the small gap I had back from James, which I knew I could have bridged. I had a very bad start in race one - 19th at the beginning, because someone knocked me off the track. We made the bike better in race two, and we were close, but not quite there.”

Chili found his physical condition once more the main drawback to his race challenges.

“It was very hard work for me,” said Chili. “I am still not back to full fitness after my recent crashes and that was my main problem today. In race two it was even worse but I wanted to finish both my home races.”

Fabrizio was disconsolate at his misfortunes, but looks to Magny-Cours to finish his rookie SBK season on a high.

“The bike just stopped in the first race,” said Fabrizio. “In race two the engine temperature started to go up so I decided to come in, just in case something worse happened.”

The WSS and SBK series now goes Magny-Cours for the final round of the year, between October 6 and October 8.