After sustaining injuries at the recent Brno tests, world championship leader Sebastien Charpentier underwent an operation last Thursday, during which doctors in Paris inserted one plate in his collarbone and one in bone three of his pelvis. Seb is recovering well after his restorative surgery and should be back for a Lausitz tyre test session, just a week before Brno race on 23 July. Arie Vos will take Charpentier’s spot during the Misano weekend. The Dutch rider is back again with the Winston Ten Kate Honda Team after last year’s experience outing at Magny-Cours. Arie knows the bike, the tyres and the track very well and should be able to achieve a positive result on the Italian circuit. For the team’s regular second rider, Kenan Sofuoglu, it will be the first time with his Honda CBR 600 on this circuit, and last year a broken hand prevented him from competing in the Superstock Championship. Ronald Ten Kate Team Manager “Obviously it’s quite sad to lose Sebastien in the middle of the championship, even for a race. The crash in Brno made him suffer extensive injuries, but he is now in good hands in Paris. For sure he will be back for the Brno race or even one week before for the Lausitz test. We know he can lose some points this weekend but hopefully not too many. His position on the bike will be taken by Arie Vos, who already knows the bike and the track and could, for sure, ride for a good placing at Misano. Arie is the rider from our satellite team in Holland and is already doing quite a lot of test work on parts for us. For Kenan, after the disastrous weekend in Silverstone, he bounced back fully during the Brno test and he was the quickest guy of all Supersport riders. This was pretty good because we could see his confidence was right back. We are looking forward to this Misano race because we know our bikes work quite well, even if we didn’t share the test with other teams last month. However, the conditions on the track will be much different. They tested there with 16 or 18 degrees of air temperature while we will experience probably more than 30 degrees.” Kenan Sofuoglu Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider “After the Brno test I feel stronger. In Silverstone I didn’t feel strong enough but now I can say I am back. This will the first time in Misano for me because last year I had a broken hand, but I am sure that after Friday, which I will use mainly to learn the circuit, I will be ready to compete with the fastest in final qualifying and the race. I am confident in what I can do, and I can’t wait to go to Misano.” Arie Vos Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider “Last year I raced on this track for the first time and I really enjoyed it. It’s fast and it suits to my style of riding. I am also working a lot on fitness because I know it will be a very hot weekend and therefore it will be very important to be at a peak of physical condition. I already know the bike quite well because I compete on a similar bike and I tried the 2005 Winston Ten Kate Honda last year at Magny-Cours. I also know the team well and I am sure we will work together in a really good way. They are great people and true professionals. This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I’ll try to use it in the best way possible. I still hope that Sebastien will be back soon because he still has a championship to conquer.”