Honda Previews Silverstone World Supersport Race

Honda Previews Silverstone World Supersport Race

© 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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From a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

SILVERSTONE SIGNALS END OF PART ONE

After the dramas and uncertainty of the previous round at Oschersleben on May 30 the 10-round World Supersport Championship is about to embark on its last outing for almost two months, to Silverstone in Great Britain this weekend.

At Silverstone, machine speed and fast cornering confidence is the key for the majority of the lap but a tight and twisty final section, including the season’s most cramped and slowest chicane, makes the modern 5.094km Silverstone circuit one of contrasts.

After the temporary exclusion of the six top Honda riders at Oschersleben all their points and finishing positions have been restored, significantly altering the state of play in the overall World Championship fight at a crucial stage.

Thanks to the efforts of three of the supported riders equipped with the all-conquering CBR600RR the Oschersleben podium places were ultimately an all-Honda affair, with Karl Muggeridge and Broc Parkes from the Ten Kate squad finishing first and second respectively, and Sebastien Charpentier (Klaffi Honda) a close third.

Muggeridge’s win, his third in a row and Honda’s fourth of the year, puts him in the lead of the championship, 87 points to the 82 of Yamaha rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh. Parkes, thanks in large part to his two-second places at Monza and Oschersleben, sits third, with 53 points. Charpentier, now sixth overall, looks forward to fighting for his second podium of the season at what is the first of two British-based rounds on the calendar.

Charpentier’s 20-year-old team-mate Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) will have his first taste of yet another new track this weekend, the rookie WSS rider proving to be a real asset for now and the future. He scored a career best fifth place at Oschersleben, after a race-long fight with some legendary figures in Supersport racing.

Team Italia Megabike Honda riders Alessio Corradi (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) and Denis Sacchetti will be looking to Silverstone as another opportunity to move into the top places.

Now back on top of the championship on riding merit, Muggeridge is looking to continue his amazing run of form and is already concentrating on the job in hand. “It should be good again this weekend. We are improving the bike every time we get put on it. I keep hoping the job of making the set-up better gets easier and easier but each time we go faster we arrive at another small problem, which we solve. It’s just a continual job. I want to just concentrate on the set-up for race conditions and I don’t expect too many changes, even though we have new fork settings and so on to try. Silverstone is two tracks in one. The more open part is all high speed cornering, like Phillip Island or Assen and the other bit is like a Supercross arena. By necessity, set-up is always a compromise atSilverstone.”

For Parkes, a new training regime has already paid dividends, and he will be all out to take his first win in WSS in the UK. “Silverstone is pretty good to me. Last year I was on the front row in first qualifying. I like the track even though last year my engine didn’t have the power I do this year. I’m going there aiming to do what I did at the last two races and get on the podium. I’m training a lot more than usual, and I’ve started running a lot. I never used to run but I’m doing it every day now and I’ve noticed a huge difference. It’s not just a physical fitness thing it also helps with concentration and now I’m just as strong at the end of a race as I was at the beginning. To get my points back from Oschersleben was great and if the top two riders have a DNF then it changes things dramatically. I would be right in there again.”

After the intense joy of his first podium finish, in what has been an often-fraught season so far, Charpentier is looking forward to a quick hop across the channel, aiming to plunder some English silverware. “All three of the next tracks, Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Assen are good tracks for me and after what happened after Oschersleben, to go to Silverstone in sixth place is OK. I’m looking forward to it.”

Track knowledge for Neukirchner could allow him a good chance to continue his rapid growth in this tough series. “It was a big boost to me to finish so well in Germany, my best ever result. Silverstone is another new track for me on the CBR600RR but my bike is fast, the tyres have been good and my team helps me a lot.”

Corradi’s season has also featured some ups and downs, with the diminutive Italian with a big talent concentrating on the positives “I like the Silverstone layout very much, or at least all of it except that last chicane, which no-one likes. It is no problem for me to approach a fast circuit like this with the machine and set-up we have so I am looking forward to the weekend.”

For Sacchetti, Silverstone is another new challenge. “I earned good points in Germany and I want to continue that on in England. It is a very different track from Oschersleben but we will do our best.”

With the World Supersport championship not following the Superbike series to the American round at Laguna Seca on July 11th, the seventh round of the series takes place at Brands Hatch on August 1.

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