Nowland and Cudlin third at Assen Australians Warwick Nowland and Damian Cudlin have kicked off the 2006 world endurance title in strong fashion, securing third place in the season-opening event at a revamped Assen layout on April 17. After starting from grid position five on the Yamaha Phase One Endurance YZF-R1, the duo circulated consistently for the entire 500km race, eventually finishing two laps down on the victorious Suzuki Castrol combination of Vincent Philippe and Japan’s Keiichi Kitagawa (GSX-R1000). The podium was completed by Yamaha Austria, with Igor Jerman and Sebastien Scarnato at the helm of the team’s YZF-R1. “I had a couple of little problems during the race, but to finish on the podium gives us a lot of confidence heading into the big 24-hour (Le Mans) next weekend,” said Cudlin, who finished fourth at Assen last year. “We changed the bike a little bit in warm up and it wasn’t spot on for me, and when the wind picked during the race up it was a little bit unstable.” Meanwhile, reigning world champion Suzuki Castrol enjoyed the perfect weekend, kick-started when its full complement of riders Matthieu Lagrive is the third went fastest in their individual qualifying sessions. Lagrive was then set aside for the 110-lap race, leaving Philippe and Kitagawa to deliver Suzuki Castrol’s third successive win at Assen and Suzuki’s fourth in a row after Nowland was successful in 2003. The duo was a lap ahead by the 250km mark, and could afford to cruise in the closing stages but not before Philippe set the fastest lap of the race (1:43.659) on the extensively remodelled circuit in northern Holland. “It was an easy race for the team,” said Philippe. “I made good start, and tried to stay constant during the race. I saw Yamaha Austria had a problem, so I kept a good lap time but not too fast; I was thinking about Le Mans next week. It’s been a pleasure to ride at Assen.” Yamaha Austria did manage to keep Castrol Suzuki on its toes in the opening laps, before it was forced to pit early for a new front tyre. Twenty-eight teams completed the distance, with nine DNFs. Round two of the 2006 Endurance World Championship will be held at Le Mans this weekend the first time the iconic 24-hour event has been on the calendar since 2001. A third Australian will join Nowland and Cudlin at Le Mans Damian’s younger brother Alex, who will ride for Kawasaki Diablo 666 on a ZX-10R. Diablo finished eighth at Assen. Provisional results 1st 2 Suzuki Castrol FRA Suzuki GSX-R1000 Philippe, Kitagawa 110 laps 2nd 7 Yamaha Austria AUT Yamaha YZF-R1 Jerman, Scarnato – 1 lap 3rd 3 Yamaha Phase One Endurance GBR Yamaha YZF-R1 Nowland, Cudlin – 2 laps 4th 12 Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se SWE Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Hanson, Andersson, Carlberg 3 laps 5th 8 Kawasaki Bolliger SUI Kawasaki ZX10R Muff, Saiger, Morillon 4 laps 6th 4 Team X-One Yamaha ITA Yamaha YZF-R1 Sanna, Demaneis, Tessari – +35.371 seconds 7th 21 RMT21 Racing Honda GER Honda CBR1000RR Mizera, Seidel – +1:05.900 8th 666 Kawasaki Diablo 666 GBR Kawasaki ZX10R Rohtlaan, Hutchins, Cudlin 5 laps 9th 100 Suzuki Team Endurance Moto45 FRA Suzuki GSX-R1000 Bernon, Briere – +48.871 seconds 10th 199 Yamaha Team Acropolis Zone Rouge FRA Yamaha YZF-R1 – vdBoreck, Pirot, Botton 6 laps