From a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

LACONI AND TOSELAND (DUCATI FILA) AIM FOR MORE DOUBLE GLORY IN GERMANY

Oschersleben (Germany), 27 May 2004: After their double 1-2 at Monza two weeks ago, Regis Laconi and James Toseland take their Fila Ducatis to the tight and twisty Oschersleben MotoPark circuit in Germany this weekend for round 5 of the championship.

While former points leader Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati) slumped to two DNFs at Monza, 28 year-old Laconi powered to the maximum points, which makes him favourite for the win this weekend.

“After Valencia I was worried about the 45 points I had lost to James because I thought it would take more races to get up to the top, so now that I am leading the championship I feel much happier” commented Laconi.

“Oschersleben is a small circuit but unlike many other riders I actually like it. It’s a bit like Valencia with lots of right and left corners but no really long straight and I think my riding style is good for it. The only difficult part is just before the back straight, where many riders cut the chicane.

“For this race the bike needs to be set up so that it is easy for the changes in direction. As we already have a good base set-up, we will not change the bike from Monza very much” he concluded.

Ducati Fila team-mate James Toseland finally looks to have got to grips with the front-end problems that have afflicted him since the start of the season and he returns to the circuit where he scored his maiden World Superbike win just twelve months ago.

“Last year I earned myself a piano for my win at Oschersleben” declared the 23 year-old from Sheffield, England. “I don’t think I’ll be getting anything like that if I win again, but it’ll be great to race again on the circuit where I took my first World Superbike victory!

“It’s a different kettle of fish this year, what with the new bike and the new tyres, but I’m a lot happier now that we found something at Monza with the help of the Öhlins technicians. I’ve got more feel at the front, we just need to find more rear grip, but other than that the bike is really good.

“Oschersleben is tight and twisty and not very heavy on the braking, unlike Monza” he explained. “It’s got lots of horseshoe corners, which makes for some interesting racing. It was close last year, so there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be this time around.”

POINTS (after 4 of 11 rounds):
(Riders) 1. Laconi 120; 2. Toseland 117; 3. Chili 97; 4. McCoy 87; 5. Vermeulen 83 ; 6. Haga 69; etc.
(Manufacturers) 1. Ducati 200; 2. Petronas 90; 3. Honda 83; 4. Kawasaki 48; 5. Suzuki 47 ; 6. Yamaha 22.

CIRCUIT INFO Name: Oschersleben Motopark. Length: 3.667 km. Pole Position: right. Corners Left/Right: 7/7. Finish Line Length: 680 m.

STATISTICS Best lap: Hodgson (Ducati), 1’26.502 (2002). Lap record: Edwards (Honda), 1’26.549 (2002). Superpole: Hodgson (Ducati), 1’26.502 (2002). Race Distance: 2 x 28 laps/102.676 km.

2003 RESULTS
Race 1: 1. Hodgson (Ducati); 2. Chili (Ducati); 3. Toseland (Ducati).
Race 2: 1. Toseland; 2. Hodgson; 3. Walker (Ducati).