Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Heroic Vermeulen rides to Monza win

Chris Vermeulen rode with a badly broken thumb to a demonstrative victory on the Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR at Monza. Jurgen VD Goorbergh came through to second on the Belgarda Yamaha YZF-R6, while Iain MacPherson on the Van Zon Honda TKR returned to form with third.

Vermeulen lead from the start with Ten Kate team mate Karl Muggeridge in tow. The pair pulled out an incredible 1.6-second lead from the pack in the first half lap.

Muggeridge held second for a while but he had burnt out his clutch making his start for the warm up lap and he faded back through the field before being forced to retire. The data from the bike download after the race showed that he over revved it getting away for the warm up lap.

Newcomer Sebastien Charpentier brought the Klaffi Honda through to as high as second on lap three, but then fell back to sixth at the end of the race. VD Goorbergh emerged from the pack on his Belgarda Yamaha R6 to take second but couldn’t reel in the flying Australian. Vermeulen went on to win by 9.1 seconds.

“I don’t know how I did that,” said Vermeulen after the race. “But I got a good start and when I looked around nobody was there. I don’t know what happened to everybody but obviously I was happy to be leading,” said Vermeulen, before heading to the Clinica Mobile to have his injured thumb reset.

MacPherson received his first points for the season at Monza, and is looking forward to the next round in two weeks time. “It’s about time I got on to the podium,” said the plucky Scotsman. “I put in much more effort into this weekend but I’m not 100% there yet, maybe more like 80%. I’m trying so hard to want to race and hopefully I can keep on getting better.”

Vermeulen’s win saw him increase his championship lead to 29 points on a day when his nearest rival Katsuaki Fujiwara struggled and finished back in tenth. VD Goorbergh’s second place raises him from fourth to third in the championship, just a point behind Fujiwara.


World Supersport Race Results:

1. Chris Vermeulen, Honda, 16 laps, 30:16.092
2. Jurgen vd Goorbergh, Yamaha, -9.120 secondsBR>3. Iain MacPherson, Honda, -12.236 seconds
4. Stephane Chambon, Suzuki, -12.251 seconds
5. Fabien Foret, Kawasaki, -13.529 seconds
6. Sebastien Charpentier, Honda, -13.817 seconds
7. Christian Kellner, Yamaha, -14.249 seconds
8. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha, -14.562 seconds
9. Pere Riba, Kawasaki, -15.277 seconds
10. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki, -16.066 seconds
11. Robert Ulm, Honda, -16.962 seconds
12. Christophe Cogan, Honda, -22.577 seconds
13. Barry Veneman, Honda, -29.549 seconds
14. Simone Sanna, Yamaha, -30.447 seconds
15. Broc Parkes, Honda, -38.193 seconds
16. Alessandro Polita, Yamaha, -38.258 seconds
17. Werner Daemen, Honda, -38.336 seconds
18. Ivan Goi, Yamaha, -41.214 seconds
19. Matthieu Lagrive, Yamaha, -48.719 seconds
20. Didier Vankeymeulen, Kawasaki, -58.120 seconds

26. Thierry vd Bosch, Yamaha, 12 laps, DNF
27. Karl Muggeridge, Honda, -12 laps, DNF


More, from a press release issued on behalf of Ten Kate Honda:

Brave victory for battered Vermeulen at Monza

Despite going into the race with badly damaged ligaments in his right thumb from his Friday crash, Australian Chris Vermeulen won by a massive margin of 9.1 seconds on his Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR at Monza in the World Supersport championship.

“I don’t know how I did that,” said Vermeulen, obviously in a great deal of pain from his injury after a gruelling race. “I got a great start and when I saw my board a couple of laps later I couldn’t believe how far ahead I was. My team worked really hard all weekend to give me this victory – as did the guys in the Clinica Mobile! Pirelli came up with some brilliant tyres once again and the WP guys gave me a great raced set up. All I had to do was hang onto the bike for the race distance!”

Vermeulen didn’t realise at the time that his team mate Karl Muggeridge had been forced to retire. “I didn’t think I’d done anything differently at the start,” said Muggeridge after the race. “But when we looked at the data it seems I burnt the clutch out making my start for the warm up lap.”

Muggeridge can take heart from his performance this weekend having dominated qualifying and only missing out in the race because of a small mechanical problem.

Team manager Ronald ten Kate was full of praise for both his riders, “I’m delighted and I must admit somewhat amazed to see Chris win like that. There was a time this weekend when it looked like Chris wouldn’t even be fit to race. Not only did he ride but he took the victory in fantastic style and increased his championship lead to 29 points.

“I consider Karl as a winner also this weekend,” added ten Kate. “He may have had some bad luck in the race but he proved to everybody in qualifying that he is a real force in the World Supersport championship.”


More, from a press release issued on behalf of Van Zon Honda TKR:

Good and bad for Van Zon Honda TKR at Monza

It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the Van Zon Honda TKR team in the Monza round of the World Supersport championship.

Iain MacPherson powered his way back to form on his Honda CBR600RR with a superb third place, after a race-long battle with Stephane Chambon. The fiery Scot out-rode the diminutive Frenchman to grab the final podium place by a margin of just 0.015 seconds.

“It’s about time I got a decent finish,” said MacPherson after the race. “I’ve put more effort into my racing this weekend, although I feel I’m still not going at 100%, maybe more like 80%. I’m trying really hard to want to race, I’m working on my motivation and hopefully I can keep on improving. I’ve been thinking about my racing, walking the circuit and even listening to Pink Floyd before the races to keep my heart rate down!”

His team mate Werner Daemen had a completely different race. After qualifying well his race started disastrously when his bike cut out on the warm up lap. He rushed back to the pits to collect his spare machine and was forced to start from the pit lane. Unfortunately he suffered similar problems on his number two Honda but soldiered on to finish a creditable seventeenth.

“I’m very, very disappointed,” said Daemen after the race. “I had such a good race set up, the WP suspension guys had worked hard with us to get the chassis working perfectly and the Pirelli tyres have been absolutely superb here all weekend. So to be beaten by a stupid electrical fault like this is terrible luck.”

Hopefully everything will be sorted by the next race in Oschersleben and both riders will be able to show their true potential on the German circuit for round five of the World Supersport championship.


More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki:

CHAMBON MISSES PODIUM BY A WHISKER

2003 Supersport World Championship ­ Round 4, Monza, Italy Sunday 18th May
There were no podium places today for Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Stephane Chambon and Katsuaki Fujiwara,­ though Chambon came very close. Aussie Chris Vermeuelen blasted his Honda into the lead right from the start and was headed on his way to a second win of the season. Van de Goorbergh (Yamaha) had a fairly lonely ride for second, but there was a tremendous multi-rider fight for third place which had the sun-blessed crowd jumping up and down with every lap. Fujiwara and Chambon were both involved in this dog-fight early in the race, but Fujiwara’s Suzuki began falling back through the field. Chambon managed to stay with the pack and was in third place until the last lap when Briton Iain MacPherson went past and held on by less then three hundredths of a second. Fujiwara eventually finished tenth.

STEPHANE CHAMBON ­ 4TH
Well today was the best day of the weekend because we had some problems in practice for sure. Today my Alstare Suzuki GSXR600 felt much better. The acceleration was good, the Showa suspension worked well and the Dunlops were good throughout the race. We knew that this would be a difficult track for us ­ because of the need for top end speed ­ but in the end fourth wasn’t too bad. Third would’ve been better of course!

KATSUAKI FUJIWARA ­ 10TH
I am disappointed today and my title challenge has slipped a little. My start was good, but as the race wore on, I could not stay with the leaders and I lost place after place. To finish tenth makes me unhappy, because I know I should’ve finished higher. I will try and make up for it in the next round at Oschersleben.


More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

VERMEULEN TAKES OUTSTANDING WIN AT MONZA

Making a perfect start from the front row after qualifying second on the grid, World Championship leader Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) took an immediate and unchallenged advantage in the 16-lap Supersport race, outpacing the entire field to secure a record breaking victory at Monza.

His fastest lap of 1:52.635 was a new record by almost 1.5 seconds, and Vermeulen enjoyed a 9.120 second margin of victory over Yamaha rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh.

Pole position man Karl Muggeridge (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) looked to be in position to score a Honda and Ten Kate 1-2 but he was forced to retire from the race on lap five, after dropping from second to last place with a burnt out clutch. Nonetheless, another Honda rider, Iain Macpherson (van Zon Honda CBR600RR) secured third place, his first podium of the season.

A strong ride at the head of the first tailing group could not be maintained by Sebastien Charpentier (Team Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) but the Frenchman picked up a useful ten points for his sixth place finish. Charpentier’s team-mate Robert Ulm scored 11th, with the distant Christophe Cogan (BKM Honda CBR600RR) overcoming the pain of a pre-race crash to finish one place behind in 12th.

Cogan’s fellow BKM rider Broc Parkes was 15th, Werner Daemen 17th after he could not get his engine to rev out on the straights.

Vermeulen now sits on 81 points in the championship standings, 29 clear of Katsuaki Fujiwara (Suzuki), with van den Goorbergh and Christian Kellner (Yamaha) on 51 and 46 points respectively.

For Vermeulen his second Supersport victory was as sweet as his first Phillip Island win, even if he did downplay his personal performance.

“My start was pretty good and I was expecting Karl to come past but I didn’t see anyone. I read my pit board after about four laps and I had plus six so I turned around and there was no one there. I wondered what had happened and if the whole field had been wiped out or something. The team have worked really well this weekend with my injury and Pirelli gave us the perfect tyre for the race. The Ten Kate Honda is always fast and it was really quick here so all I had to do was sit on it and ride it around.”

Macpherson’s weekend was easily his best of the year. “It was a very difficult race, right from the first lap to the last lap I had to keep fighting and fighting as much as I could,” said the rejuvenated Scotsman. “I only looked behind me once in the race and had a bit of gap over Foret and knew that I was going to finish third or fourth. Fortunately I was able to get on the podium and beat Chambon.”

For Charpentier in sixth only his physical conditioning came between him and a challenge for a podium slot. “At the start of the race everything was great and the work the team has put in really counted,” stated Charpentier after 16-laps of the 5.793km circuit. “My problem is basically seven months off a racing motorcycle, with the exception of Sugo. I could not keep the stamina in my arm muscles to move the bike around. But I am very pleased that we showed we can be competitive even on the fastest tracks.”

Austrian Robert Ulm survived a close call with another rider to earn his 11th place. “I had a bit of a problem with Sanna at one point and another problem with the bike set-up at the double rights at the Lesmo. Other than that the bike was very fast and I am happy with that.”

A quick day in the park for Christophe Cogan was also a painful one. “The crash I had in practice meant I was in a lot of pain and it affected my strength in the race and my concentration.”

Broc Parkes found Monza a particular challenge. “It was a very difficult race today because I had reduced power and it was impossible to make a pass,” stated the young Aussie rider. “We don’t know what the problem is but we have had four races like this and knew that if we came here like this it would be very hard. It seemed to be that whatever we changed it didn’t make a difference and if I was able to put in a pass on the brakes I was being out dragged down the straights.”

For Werner Daemen, who was often impressively quick in practice, the race was much less enjoyable. “I think my top speed was about 250kmph and it should be around 30kmph more. I don’t know what was wrong but the bike refused to rev properly on the straights.”

The cruellest luck of all was held by Karl Muggeridge, who set a new track Supersport best in qualifying, 1:51.480, yet lost all chance of his first race win of the 2003 season. “I burnt the clutch out on the start and I knew that it was pointless riding around so I retired. It’s a big disappointment when I knew I could have won.”

In the fourth round of the World Superbike Championship, the first race of the day was taken by Neil Hodgson (Ducati), his seventh straight race win this season. A close four way fight for the two remaining podium places went to Regis Laconi (Ducati) and Gregorio Lavilla (Suzuki). Hodgson’s three-second lead was whittled down to only 0.3 seconds at the flag, after the intervention of backmarkers. Hodgson’s win was Ducati’s 200th in SBK racing.

In the second 18-lap SBK event, a race-long, four-rider battle between Hodgson, Laconi, Lavilla and Pierfrancesco Chili (Ducati) went the way of Hodgson, holding off Lavilla by a mere 0.044 seconds. Pierfrancesco Chili sent the partisan crowds wild with his third place finish, running home right on the heels of Lavilla.

With Hodgson’s closest championship challenger Ruben Xaus (Ducati) only scoring nine points at Monza, Hodgson sits 85 points ahead, 200 to 115.

Lavilla closed in on Xaus with his new total of 111 and Regis Laconi moved to fourth overall on 96.

The next race for both Supersport and Superbike classes takes place at Oschersleben, Germany, on June 1.


More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:

Jurgen van den Goorbergh moved up to third in the World Supersport championship after finishing second in round four at the Monza circuit in Italy today.

The Dutchman, riding a Yamaha YZF-R6 for Yamaha Belgarda Team, was forced to work hard for his second podium of the season after being held up in a tight first corner.

He fought his way quickly from eighth to second, but by that time eventual race winner Chris Vermeulen (Honda) had built up an unassailable lead.

Christian Kellner (Yamaha Motor Germany), overcame a fifth row start to finish in a strong seventh place, holding off Alessio Corradi (Yamaha Team Italia Spadaro). Kellner’s machine topped the speed trap figures at Monza, with 281.7kph down the main straight, continuing the R6’s record of being the fastest Supersport machine in each round this season.

Simone Sanna (Yamaha Belgarda) had an eventful ride to 14th after a slight clutch adjustment problem led to difficulties changing gear. Matthieu Lagrive (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) finished in 19th place.

Thierry van den Bosch (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) crashed out of a points scoring position on lap five while Jörg Teuchert (Yamaha Motor Germany) pulled in after experiencing problems on the final lap.

Vermeulen extended his championship lead. Van den Goorbergh and Kellner are in championship contention. They lie third and fourth in the championship, with 51 and 46 points respectively. The next round takes place at Oschersleben, Germany, on June 1.

Jurgen van den Goorbergh – Yamaha Belgarda – second
“It was very important for Belgarda Yamaha to get a good result here as they are based so close to the track. It’s probably the most pressure I’ve ever been under but I handled it. For me it is just another race and another part of my career but it’s good for the team to do well here. We were struggling a little bit in practice but we made a few more changes after warm-up and it has worked out quite well. We are improving every weekend and the Pirelli tyres were working great here at Monza. We basically had no problems.”

Christian Kellner – Yamaha Motor Germany – seventh
“There was no problem with the bike at all in the race, just our position from practice. Starting from the fifth row makes things very difficult. I was pushed off line badly at the first corner when another rider went over the kerbs. I am happy with my speed and the speed of the bike, even if this is not my favourite kind of racetrack. I prefer places like Sugo or Oschersleben, and this also makes things more difficult for me at Monza.”

Alessio Corradi – Yamaha Team Italia Spadaro – eighth
“I made a perfect start but at the first chicane I was passed by many riders who cut the corner and went over the other side of the kerb. As a result I was 16th on the first lap. I pushed hard but the gap was too big to the next group. I am disappointed with the result because we are in Italy and I wanted to do better at my home race.”

Simone Sanna – Yamaha Belgarda – 14th
“I had a clutch problem in the race and it made things very difficult under braking. I made two mistakes and was off the track twice, once when I was battling with Robert Ulm and the second time on my own at Ascari. I had some grip problems at the end of the race as well which made it very hard for me.”

Matthieu Lagrive – Yamaha Motor France IPONE – 19th
“I think it is the same story as Sugo. We are making the bike better and the team and I are working very hard. We have to take it step-by-step and at the moment it is not possible for us to qualify high enough and lap fast enough to score points. I hope in three or four races time it will be much better.”

Jörg Teuchert – Yamaha Motor Germany – DNF
“I was leading my group and went in at the same speed as usual but I had a rear wheel slide at the second Lesmo, maybe water on the rear tyre but I am not sure yet. On the exit the engine was getting slower and I had to stop. That’s racing, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”

Thierry van den Bosch – Yamaha Motor France IPONE – DNF
“I didn’t have a perfect set-up and because of this I was having to do a lot of work on the brakes. I tangled with Broc Parkes under braking but I think it was just a racing accident.”