The seventh round of the Superbike World Championship takes place at Brno circuit in the Czech Republic this weekend, the first time the series has been there since 1996. And on that occasion, Troy Corser took a superb double and then carried on to win the world title, so the current series leader is looking forward to history repeating itself. Brno circuit is mostly fast and flowing and is usually a favourite amongst riders. Corser has not had any recent experience of the track and will have to learn it all over again, but it is a track he remembers with affection. For team mate Yukio Kagayama, it will be another track to learn from scratch, but the Japanese rider is a quick learner and hopes the layout will suit his style well. Troy Corser: “It’s been a long while since we raced at Brno but the last time we were there I did the double, so I am really looking forward to going back. I don’t know how much of the track has changed, but a couple of the teams tested there recently and their lap times were not significantly better than the ones I did nine years ago, so maybe there have been some important changes. I remember it as being pretty fast and flowing and I hope that the feeling of the track is the same. I went on to win the title after our last visit to Brno, so I am hoping the same will happen again.” Yukio Kagayama: “I have not been to Brno before so this will be a new experience for me – like many times this season. I understand that it is quite a flowing track and I think, once I have learnt it, my style should be good for it. The important thing for me though is to get back to the podium. My start this season was good, but the last three rounds of the championship have been disappointing and I need to be on the podium. Some of my recent results have been because of little mistakes and some have been down to bad luck, so it is about time this changed. There is no reason why I cannot get good results in Brno and I will be fighting my hardest for two podiums.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: LACONI AND TOSELAND (DUCATI XEROX TEAM) CZECH MATES AT BRNO WORLD SUPERBIKE ROUND Brno (Czech Republic), Thursday 14 July: Victorious in the last four Superbike races at Silverstone and Misano Adriatico, the Ducati Xerox Team duo of Régis Laconi and James Toseland will be looking to extend their winning streak at this weekend’s Czech Republic round at Brno, which hosts a World Superbike championship race for the first time in 9 years. Laconi’s double win in the Misano heat brought the Frenchman, who celebrated his 30th birthday last week, back into contention in the championship and he now lies in third place, 92 points adrift of leader Corser (Suzuki), while Toseland moved up to fifth place with two fourth places at the Italian circuit. Ducati Corse Superbike technical director, Ernesto Marinelli, explains the difficulties of the Brno circuit, following the Ducati Xerox Team’s recent test sessions. “We have tested here for four days recently, which is a bit of an advantage because at least it means that the track is not totally new. It’s a circuit that does not require any particularly aggressive riding, instead you have to ‘stroke’ your way through the curves at quite a good speed. The circuit has a lot of these corners and slow uphill chicanes, so it is actually quite difficult.” Régis Laconi comes to Brno on the crest of a wave after notching up two wins at Misano, where the second race also marked Ducati’s 600th WSBK podium. “For me Misano was perfect, they were two of the best races of my life. It was also great for Ducati because we understood that we can achieve anything, even though it will be extremely difficult to win both races every time to be able to aim for the title. However the championship is not over yet. I like the Brno circuit a lot because it’s wide and fast with some great cornering lines. Unlike Misano, maybe my aim here is not to try and overdo it and win both races because I think that I will only go well here if I enjoy myself out on the track. The biggest problem therefore will be to get the right set-up for the front, because to get the bike to go where you want you have to have precision cornering and be able to use your own natural riding style.” James Toseland has never raced at Brno before but had a good testing session in preparation for the Czech Round. “I’ve never raced here before but we had a great test both times and I’m really looking forward to racing here. It’s similar to Mugello, with the fast long chicanes and it seems to suit the Ducati and me. We have to win here, we can’t let Troy win again otherwise it’s going to be very difficult. We’ll run a slightly stiffer setting on the front fork because of the heavy braking and we can afford to go a bit stiffer at the rear shock as well because of the width of the track. You can pick the bike up earlier and it feels like it’s got 20 HP less because of the amount of room. It’s a really great track with a lot of passing places and I think it’s going to be a good race.” BRNO STATISTICS: The 2005 championship moves into the second half of the season with the Czech Republic round. The first Brno Superbike race was held in 1993 and saw the two wins go to Carl Fogarty (Ducati) and Scott Russell (Kawasaki). Since then the only other WSBK event to be held at the track was in 1996, when current points leader Troy Corser scored two wins on a factory Ducati 916 in his championship-winning year. Ducati are the manufacturer with the best victory record at Brno, three wins against Kawasaki’s one. The track records all belong to Corser, who set them in 1996 (pole position 2m04.019s/156.873 kph, lap record 2m03.825s/157.082 kph), but the circuit has not undergone any modifications since then and those times are surely destined to drop this weekend, when the two races will be run over a distance of 108.060 kms (20 laps). CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after 6 of 12 rounds) : Riders – 1. Corser (Suzuki) 254; 2. Vermeulen (Honda) 181; 3. Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 162; 4. Kagayama (Suzuki) 148; 5. Toseland (Ducati Xerox) 124; 6. Haga (Yamaha) 88, etc. Manufacturers – 1. Suzuki 263; 2. Ducati 200; 3. Honda 194; 4. Yamaha 129; 5. Kawasaki 100; 6. Petronas 17. More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information: World Supersport and Superbike Championships 2005 Round 7 Brno Czech Republic Race Preview 15 17 JULY 2005 CHANGE IN LINE UP FOR CZECH DATE A crash suffered by second top place World Supersport rider Katsuaki Fujiwara, during testing for the Suzuka 8-Hour race in Japan has altered the line-up of the Winston Ten Kate Honda team for the forthcoming Czech round. Championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) will now be joined by 20-year-old Briton Craig Jones (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR), a front runner on a Honda in the British Supersport series. As the previous round at Misano recently proved, there is no shortage of Honda talent on any race weekend, with Charpentier winning by 0.4 seconds from his fellow countryman Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR), and Fujiwara third. Charpentier and Fujwara have scored four and two race wins respectively, in what has been a stellar season for the CBR600RR. Charpentier leads the series with 140 points to Fujiwara’s 106, with Foret fourth overall on 73. Foret’s occasionally luckless team-mate Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) has already stepped on the podium this season, in this his first full year of active service in World Supersport. Two consecutive retirements have kept him in seventh place, on 42 points. Finnish new-boy Tatu Lauslehto (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) has been learning the art of World Supersport racing after winning the European version last year, and is a respectable ninth overall. Charpentier has been a sensation in partnership with his Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR, dropping only ten points from a possible 150 at the mid-season stage. “I was very sorry when I heard about Kats crashing in Japan and look forward to welcoming him back to the team at the Brands Hatch round,” said Charpentier on the eve of the Brno experience. “He has given me the strongest challenge this season and has taken two race wins to show how strong he is. But I’m looking forward to welcoming Craig to the team and giving him whatever help I can. It’ll be good to know that he’s on our side for this race because he was certainly impressive at Silverstone in May. I’ve heard a lot about the Brno circuit and think that it will suit both my style and the CBR’s characteristics. I know our main challengers from both Honda and Yamaha have tested there already so we will need to get up to speed very quickly to help the championship, which is our overall priority.” Fujiwara, unable to challenge for a potential third race win of the year at Brno, knows that he will be back soon, after his injuries have a chance to heal. “I am very disappointed to miss Brno, especially as I am second in the championship behind my team-mate Sébastien,” said a rueful Fujiwara. “I was looking forward to the opportunity to close the gap with him but it looks like that will have to wait until Brands Hatch.” Kats’ replacement at Brno, Craig Jones, regrets the way this opportunity came to pass, but is keen to make a positive impression. “I feel very sorry for Kats and hope he recovers quickly but, as you can imagine, I am very excited to have been given this opportunity. I hope the fact that most of the other riders haven’t been to Brno either will give me a level playing field to start with, but I understand the team won’t put any pressure on me. I’m just really looking forward to the whole experience.” Foret’s determination to win is legendary in World Supersport and with the mercurial Frenchman just missing victory at Misano last month, and having had a positive test at Brno recently, he feels a win is now within his grasp. “In Brno we made a good test last month,” said Foret. “I like the track and there we resolved the problems with the suspension that permitted our fantastic race in Misano. In Brno, Fujiwara will be out: I’m not happy about his problem but I know that this is a good week-end to take important points to try and get second place of the championship. Now the bike is ready and I will start to repeat the Misano race, with a better result.” Fabrizio looks to a new challenge at Brno to rekindle his points scoring form “Brno is a difficult circuit, with many aggressive corners,” said the young Roman. “The test we made there before Misano had a good result – for me, for the bike and the team. I hope only to finish the race, because I have been too unlucky for words during the last three rounds. I want to return on the podium and take important points. I know things may not look so great now, but I believe that I can finish top three by the end of the year.” Lauslehto has had the benefit of a recent test at Brno, as he goes for more good points in his rookie season. “In June we spent some days testing at Brno,” said the Finn. “That was my first time riding at this track but after a short time I had set some quite fast lap times. I like Brno very much and after the good experience in June I hope to achieve a top ten position in the race.” World Superbike Round 7 of 12 HONDA SUPERBIKE RIDERS READY FOR REVISITED BRNO With the Brno race approaching the quintet of supported Honda CBR1000RR riders has already proven adept at the art of Superbike racing in this most competitive of years. Foremost among them in the points table is 2003 World Supersport Champion Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR), with a single 2005 SBK race win to his credit so far, and an overall second place in the Championship at midseason. Week-on-week consistency has been a difficult thing for most competitors in SBK to achieve this year; such are the numbers of closely matched machines from a variety of sources. The most experienced rider of them all, Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR), is in eighth position in the points table after the Misano midseason. Vermeulen’s team-mate and compatriot Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) has made strides forward in his rookie season of SBK competition, the 2004 World Supersport Champion now sitting tenth overall out of 35 points scorers thus far. Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) continues to fight back to the dazzling form he showed early in the season, when he scored a podium finish at Phillip Island, in only his second ever SBK outing. Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji CBR1000RR) has had some dreadful misfortunes in races this year, but he and his new team have long since started to gel all the elements together step by step. Vermeulen is ready for another new World Superbike experience, at a track not used for SBK racing since 1996. “I’m looking forward to the new challenge that Brno brings and excited about going to a new track,” said Vermeulen, “I’ve spoken to a few other guys who have raced there in MotoGP and it seems to be one of their favourites because it’s fast and flowing. It’s a shame we haven’t been able to test there but with only two test tracks allowed, there’s always going to be a compromise. It’s certainly going to be difficult going out on the first day but we’ll hopefully get up to speed quickly enough because the bike’s been getting better and better over the last few rounds. I’ve spoken to the guys back at the workshop and they’ve got a couple of new things for us to try.” Chili’s advanced experience in SBK makes him only one of two current SBK racers to have previous Superbike race time at Brno. “When I saw that Brno was on the 2005 schedule I was really happy about it. In 1996 I finished only 10th and 8th at Brno but this time the conditions, with the Klaffi Honda Fireblade, are much better for me. After Misano we focused on the setting of the suspension. Now everything is perfect and – with some luck – a place on the podium may be possible.” Muggeridge looks to Brno as another challenge, especially given the spread of differing talents and testing experiences he will be up against. “I’ve heard Brno is pretty quick but pretty bumpy, too, so that could throw up one or two problems,” stated Muggeridge. “I’ll make sure I get lots of laps in on a scooter as soon as I arrive to get myself properly familiar with it. We’ll be playing a bit of catch up with those who have already tested and one or two ex-GP riders who I’m sure will remember which way it goes. The championship hasn’t been there for a few years either so hopefully that might give us a bit of an advantage.” Neukirchner positively glows with the prospect of racing a Superbike at Brno, an unusual circuit for him, in that he has great experience of it. “Brno is my favourite race track,” stated Neukirchner, with some feeling. “I have know Brno since my first years as a rider, when I participated in the German Junior Cup and the national 125cc championship. The long, fast turns and the general layout of the track are ideal, and in such conditions it is necessary to open the throttle as much as you can, especially uphill. I’m looking forward to riding there again.” Bostrom’s lack of experience at Brno will not help his attempt to get on fully competitive terms, but he remains as upbeat as ever. “I’ve never been there before, but I understand quite a few of our rivals have tested. We will have to put in a lot of hard work but that’s to be expected at a new track.” After the relative novelty of Brno, an old WSS and SBK favourite occupies the next place on the calendar Brands Hatch. The second British-based event of the year is held at the historic and undulating Kent venue on August 7th.