Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Chambon takes championship lead at Sugo

By Glenn Le Santo

Stephane Chambon fought off his teammate Katsuaki Fujiwara to take his first win of the World Supersport season. With Andrew Pitt finishing down in seventh the result means that Chambon now leads by seven points.

In a crash-packed race Chambon quickly got to the front of the pack which turned out to be the safest place as an incident in the chicane saw two riders crash out on the second lap. Piergiorgio Bontempi and Chris Vermeulen both fell after Fabien Foret touched the back of Vermeulen’s Honda in the middle of the chicane. As Vermeulen went down he swept Bontempi away with him.

Fujiwara almost crashed late in the race as he pushed hard for a home win. After the slide he calmed down realising that second was better than a trip to the kitty litter.

Paolo Casoli led the race for four laps after passing Chambon the fourth lap. But a mistake at Rainbow Corner cost him the lead. He didn’t crash but his impromptu grass tracking put him back several places. He finished fourth, better than his team mate James Whitham who crashed out of the race.

Behind Chambon and Fujiwara, Fabien Foret recovered from the chicane incident to set a new lap record on lap four as he hunted down Karl Muggeridge. Foret caught and passed Muggeridge to finish third. Both Casoli and Kellner got by Muggeridge in the final stages of the race; although Kellner left it until right on the line to claim fifth place.

Sugo World Supersport Race Results:

1. Stephane Chambon, Suzuki, 25 laps
2. Katsuaki Fujiwara, Suzuki, +0.282 second
3. Fabien Foret, Honda, +5.995 seconds
4. Paolo Casoli, Yamaha, +8.194 seconds
5. Christian Kellner, Yamaha, +12.435 seconds
6. Karl Muggeridge, Honda, +12.436 seconds
7. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki, +27.086 seconds
8. Werner Daemen, Honda, +29.190 seconds
9. Kevin Curtain, Yamaha, +29.588 seconds
10. Jorg Teuchert, Yamaha, +29.603 seconds
11. Alessio Corradi, Yamaha, +35.778 seconds
12. David De Gea, Honda, +39.306 seconds
13. James Ellison, Kawasaki, +45.962 seconds
14. Stefano Cruciani, Yamaha, +46.413 seconds
15. Antonio Carlacci, Yamaha, +63.777 seconds
16. Mark Willis, Yamaha, +73.917 seconds
17. Diego Giugovaz, Yamaha, +74.168 seconds
18. Robert Frost, Yamaha, DNF, 18 laps
19. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati, DNF, 7 laps
20. Jamie Whitham, Yamaha, DNF, 2 laps
21. Iain MacPherson, Honda, DNF, 2 laps
22. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Ducati, DNF, 1 lap
23. Chris Vermeulen, Honda, DNF, 1 lap


More, from a Ten Kate Honda press release:

Brilliant podium finish for Foret after a tough weekend in Japan


Fabien Foret showed his true form at Sugo today when he set a new lap record on his way to a third place finish.

Foret recovered from a poor start and an incident in the chicane on the second lap to power his way through to the podium. On lap two his bike touched Chris Vermeulen’s in the chicane. Unfortunately Vermeulen crashed, taking Bontempi down with him.

“It was a racing accident,” said Team Manager Ronald ten Kate after the race, “with twenty riders pouring through a tight chicane early in the race it’s just the sort of thing that can happen.”

“The chicane cost me my chance of fighting for a race win,” said Foret. “I had a bad start and was battling my way back through the field when it happened. I lost a bit of time and that allowed the two Suzuki’s to escape at the front. There was too much time for me to make up after that.”

After a weekend when the team struggled to find a good race set up third, and the lap record, was a brilliant result. “We took a little longer to find a good race set up than we would have hoped for,” admitted Ronald ten Kate. “But we studied the data really hard on Saturday night and came up with a set up that worked very well in the morning warm up, and subsequently in the race.”

“The result keeps me in touch with the championship leaders,” said Foret. “Now we are going back to Europe and to some of my favourite tracks, so I am very confident for the rest of the season.”

Foret’s team mate Iain MacPherson didn’t have such a good weekend, crashing out of the race when he ran over dirt left on the track by a previous crasher, “Iain must have had more than his share of bad luck by now,” commented Ronald ten Kate. “But hopefully it’s all behind him now and he’ll have better luck on our return to Europe. Despite all his misfortune in qualifying Iain was fast in the morning warm up and that proves his real potential.

“We’re all looking forward to the next race at Monza. We have great race tyres from Pirelli, superb suspension from WP and a very fast Honda CBR600FS. We are aiming to break the 300kph barrier at Monza.”