Despite being forced to drop his pace in the second section of the 23-lap Brands Hatch Supersport race, due to loss of physical stamina after recent pelvic and collarbone injury, Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) still heads the championship table after finishing sixth in the Brands race. Thanks to his greater number of race wins than Kevin Curtain, the rider he now shares a 131 points total with, Charpentier is classified one place above Curtain, despite the points tie.

The Brands race was taken by Broc Parkes, with Curtain second and the resurgent Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) a fine third. In the final analysis Sofuoglu was just over two seconds from the race winner, scoring podium number three of his rookie full WSS season to boot. Both Charpentier and Sofuoglu had qualified on the front row, and made good launches from their ideal start positions.

With four rounds still to come, Charpentier now has a month to recover and make himself ready for the next challenge, at Assen on September 3.

Sofuoglu’s aggressive riding earned him a fine third place, and he moves up one place in the rankings to seventh, on a share of 67 points with French rookie Yoann Tiberio (Team Megabike Honda CBR600RR), who was 12th at Brands, fading after a strong start from the third row, as tyre wear took its toll.

Simone Sanna (Team Megabike Honda CBR600RR) had a tough qualifying and was only 16th on the grid, retiring from the race when his machine lost power and then stopped.

Charpentier had prepared as thoroughly as possible for the Brands weekend, but has simply not had long enough to get back the overall fitness and muscle strength required to run at this level.

“My team has worked very well this weekend,” affirmed Charpentier after the race, “I am happy for the tyres. I felt I was OK for the race, I made a good start, and Broc Parkes also made a good start. But after 12 laps my body was completely destroyed, no power, my muscle strength is just not what it was before my accident. So, for sure, after this really bad injury it has not been easy for me to recover. I am hungry to win, so it is a big disappointment to not be able to challenge. I need the best result every time but it is not easy for me. It was impossible for me to control the bike properly at the end. I prepared as well as I could, but I am not Superman.”

Sofuoglu, who had designs on the race win after a front row qualifying performance, tried his best to stay with eventual second place rider Curtain at the end, and was tantalisingly close to second at the flag.

“I wanted to win today but for me this is a good podium,” said the Turkish rider. “I still have to learn how to finish the long races, and the end was difficult to stay with Kevin. I have to say thank you to my team because they have really helped me and I hope every weekend can be like this for us from now on.”

Tiberio carried on to the end to score as many points as possible, and was frustrated with his luck after making a good start.

"Because of the change in temperature we had to think about tyres again,” said Tiberio. “I think we did not make the best choice because after five laps, when I was in a good position, the rear started to spin. I had to just ride as smoothly as possible to bring the bike home with as many points as I could.”

Sanna was mystified as to the reason for his enforced retirement.

"I don’t know what happened but the bike cut out and I was forced to stop,” said the Misano podium finisher. “The bike just stopped and we could not get it started on the button afterwards.”

World Superbike Round 8 of 12

TOSELAND SCORES A PODIUM AND STAYS THIRD OVERALL

James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) leaves his home round at Brands Hatch with one podium more in his 2006 season haul, in third place in the championship, after finishing second and fifth in today’s 25-lap Superbike races. He now has 219 points, 11 points behind second place and 88 behind the lead.

Race one had two Winston Ten Kate Hondas in the leading group for a time, before Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) fell on lap five, having already been passed by his team-mate Toseland. The Englishman, cheered on by a vocal local crowd, made inroads into Bayliss’ lead, but could not match the final pace and lost out by a margin of 1.657 seconds. Behind, Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) who had qualified only 18th, out of the Superpole competition, fought through to eighth place.

Fortune deserted the DFX Treme Honda riders Michel Fabrizio and Pierfrancesco Chili in race one, with double Brno podium finisher Fabrizio falling on lap six, and Chili retiring on lap 11.

In the second race of the day Toseland found the traction from his rear tyre less than he expected, despite not changing any significant settings on his machine. He was battling to a possible win until he lost grip, and slid back through the field to finish fifth. The second race was won by Noriyuki Haga, with Bayliss second. Bayliss leads the championship by 307 points to Haga’s 230.

Muggeridge had the same experience as that which caused his race one no-score, crashing out after hitting a trackside apex kerbstone with his machine. Barros scored ninth in race two, after his quickshifter failed on lap five. Fabrizio, who had been fighting with a tucking front end on his machine all weekend, rode steadily at the start of race two, to score an eventual 12th. Chili retired from race two, having made a jump start, and being dropped out of a possible point scoring position after his ride through penalty had been taken.

Toseland had mixed feelings after his home round had been completed, feeling second in race two was all he could get, but feeling robbed of at least competing for a race two win.

“In race one, when Troy and Noriyuki were battling hard in there, I was able to catch them,” said Toseland, who had qualified fourth. “But near the end Troy put a good three or four laps in which were very strong, and it pulled a gap out, which was frustrating. I’m happy to be up on the podium at Brands Hatch for a change. In race two I just didn’t have the same grip as in race one, and from about then laps in I was struggling to keep the pace. I am really disappointed because I knew I could have got the best possible result, but it was great to take at least one podium in front of all these fans at Brands Hatch.”

Barros found Brands Hatch a difficult nut to crack in setup terms, having qualified 18th, and experiencing problems in race two. He is fifth overall, on 166 points.

“I had a problem with the quickshifter in race two, when it broke after five laps,” he stated “That lost me a lot of time and the bike was wheelying a lot. I think this is the toughest track for set-up this year.”

Muggeridge is looking to put a disappointing race day behind him, after a sparkling third place in Superpole qualifying. He is now 15th, on 66 points, after two no scores.

“I’m really disappointed to have crashed twice in the same way when the bike hit the rumple strips,” said Muggeridge. “We all worked very hard this weekend so thanks to the team for making the bike go so well that we could qualify on the front row. I’m just looking to Assen now to make up for this race day in the best way we can.”

Fabrizio was looking to Brands to repeat his giant-killing double podium from Brno, but found it a hard weekend after failing to get an optimum front set-up. He is now tenth overall, on 87 points.

“The problem all weekend was finding a set-up that stops the front tucking under,” said Fabrizio. “That’s part of the reason for my first race fall. In race two I just had to ride at a reduced pace, as I could not get the feel from the front I wanted.”

Chili’s eventful day ended with a lap of the track in the course car, to wave goodbye to all his British fans who attended his last Brands Hatch race weekend of a long SBK career.

“In race one the battery frame failed and it was hitting the rear suspension, so it was necessary to retire,” said Chili. “ In race two, after I had taken the pit lane penalty, I did a couple of laps and then realised it was not worth continuing. I wanted to do the lap in the car because the British fans have been so good to me throughout my career.”

WSS and SBK classes each head to Assen for round 9, between 1 and 3 September.