FIM Superbike World Championship Assen, Holland September 3, 2006 Race Two Results: 1. Troy BAYLISS (Duc 999F06), 22 laps, 37:29.307 2. Andrew PITT (Yam YZF-R1), -9.342 seconds 3. Fonsi NIETO (Kaw ZX-10R), -11.648 seconds 4. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suz GSX-R1000), -12.743 seconds 5. Ruben XAUS (Duc 999F05), -12.811 seconds 6. Lorenzo LANZI (Duc 999F06), -19.845 seconds 7. Alex BARROS (Hon CBR1000RR), -29.241 seconds 8. Regis LACONI (Kaw ZX-10R), -34.085 seconds 9. James TOSELAND (Hon CBR1000RR), -42.113 seconds, crash 10. Michel FABRIZIO (Hon CBR1000RR), -51.815 seconds 11. Steve MARTIN (Foggy Petronas FP1), -53.608 seconds 12. Roberto ROLFO (Duc 999F05), -56.132 seconds 13. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Hon CBR1000RR), -57.168 seconds 14. Chris WALKER (Kaw ZX-10R), -61.056 seconds 15. Josh BROOKES (Kaw ZX-10R), -94.429 seconds 16. Ivan CLEMENTI (Duc 999RS), -1 lap 17. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Suz GSX-R1000), -5 laps, DNF, crash 18. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yam YZF-R1), -6 laps, DNF, mechanical 19. Norick ABE (Yam YZF-R1), -8 laps, DNF, mechanical 20. Harry VAN BEEK (Suz GSX-R1000), -8 laps, DNF, mechanical 21. Pierfrancesco CHILI (Hon CBR1000RR), -14 laps, DNF, mechanical 22. Marco BORCIANI (Duc 999F05), -17 laps, DNF, mechanical 23. Criag JONES (Foggy Petronas FP1), -18 laps, DNF, mechanical 24. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000), -20 laps, DNF, crash 25. Kurtis ROBERTS (Duc 999RS), -22 laps, DNF 26. Noriyuki HAGA (Yam YZF-R1), -22 laps, DNF, crash 27. Troy CORSER (Suz GSX-R1000), -22 laps, DNF, crash Superbike World Championship Point Standings (After 18 of 24 races): 1. Bayliss, 332 points 2. Toseland, 232 points 3. Haga, 230 points 4. Pitt, 197 points 5. Corser, 193 points 6. Barros, 175 points 7. Kagayama, 139 points 8. Walker, 123 points 9. Lanzi, 115 points 10. Nieto, 112 points 11. Fabrizio, 109 points 12. Xaus, 95 points 13. Abe, 88 points 14. Laconi, 80 points 15. Muggeridge, 76 points 16. Rolfo, 64 points 17. Nakatomi, 32 points 18. TIE, Neukirchner/Fabien Foret, 19 points 20. Gimbert, 18 points More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: TOSELAND REGAINS SECOND IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP AT CHANGEABLE ASSEN With heavy rain in race one and a drying track in race two Assen presented two different challenges to the Winston Ten Kate Honda team and despite some bad luck James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) left his team’s home race second in the championship standings. Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) was once more a challenger for a podium place, but misfortune also left him down the order. In a fully wet race one Toseland slipped back from a top five place when he ran into the gravel and restarted to finish tenth, one place behind Muggeridge, who had to re-start after falling on lap 12, when sitting in fourth position. In race two Toseland was taken out at the first corner, but restarted to score an eventual ninth, and overtake double non-finisher Noriyuki Haga in the standings in overall second. Muggeridge found his rear traction dropping off in dramatic fashion in race two, as he went from fourth to 13th. The races were won by Chris Walker (in the wet opener) and Championship leader, Troy Bayliss. Ronald Ten Kate Team Manager “A fantastic comeback after the start James had in race two. He could have just laid the bike down and walked away, but he would never have made second place in the series if he had. Karl had no luck today and we will have to see what happened in the second race. A very strange weekend for us in Superbike but with James back into second place in the championship we have left our home race better than some. The weather on raceday played a big part in everything, but we know that Assen can be like this.” James Toseland SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (Race 1: 10th Race 2: 9th Championship Position: 2nd with 232 points) “In race two I had a decent start and got into the first corner OK, until I saw a Corona Suzuki on top of me. I understand he might have clipped Haga, so it may not be all Corser’s fault, but I went down and then climbed back on the bike. I still had my brakes working, but no fairing. But I got points and fought to the finish, and that gave me second place in the championship back. I did what I always do, and I never give up. If I had stopped and quit I would still be third. In race one we set off well, but my front locked on the first corner and I had to go straight. Unfortunately it took me a little bit of time to come back on track, then I had a very bad feeling with the front tyre. If there were no problems and the track was dry we would have had two podiums for sure.” Karl Muggeridge SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (Race 1: 9th Race 2: 13th Championship Position: 15th with 76 points) “My rear tyre just tore up after five laps in race two, and I went from doing low twos to fives in one lap. Couldn’t do anything with that rear. I made a small mistake in race one and missed out on the podium really.” More, from a press release issued by FG Sport: FIRST WIN FOR WALKER AND TENTH WIN FOR BAYLISS ASSEN PROVIDES THRILLS AND SPILLS FOR THR TOP MEN Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) drove the strong British contingent in the Assen crowd wild after taking his first career victory in SBK. Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) may have crashed in the first race at Assen but after an assured display of riding to win in race two, he left with an increased championship advantage, with three rounds still to run. His main championship rivals had virtual disasters in the wet first, and largely dry second, races but despite only finishing with a tenth and ninth place James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) regained overall second in the title hunt. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) and Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) both fell in both races and scored no points. In the championship battle, Bayliss now leads Toseland by 100 points, 332 to 232, with Haga third on an unchanged 230. A fuel and oil spill in the wet morning warm-up led to some delays in the race schedule, but the 22-lap Superbike races themselves went ahead as planned and on time. RACE ONE An astonishing 22-lap contest gave Chris Walker his first ever World Superbike race win, as the Nottinghamshire rider overcame the atrocious weather and slippery track to go from dead last (and on the gravel at the first corner on lap one) to victor in front of a drenched Assen crowd. It was Kawasaki’s first race win in SBK since a double success for Hitoyasu Izutsu, at Sugo in 2000. Walker’s last podium finish was in 2005, third at Valencia. In second place came Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia), with Michel Fabrizio taking his Honda DFX Treme Honda to third, after moving forward confidently from a 14th place start. RACE TWO In the second race, on a dry track with damp patches around, Bayliss took another of his assured race wins, after an early fight with eventual fourth place rider, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra). He was almost ten seconds ahead of second place rider Pitt, who now sits fourth overall, on 197 points after two runner-up rides. In a strong day for PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse rider Fonsi Nieto, a fourth in race one was followed up but his first career SBK podium of third in race two. DRY PRACTICE LEAVES EVERYTHING OPEN AT WET AND DRY ASSEN Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) recovered from his first race crash to secure an impressive fourth in race two, although being passed twice by eventual podium rider Nieto in the process. Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) lost the front while in the leading group in race one. In race two a collision between Corser and Haga on the startline broke the wheel and dented the front disk on Corser’s Suzuki, and when he went into the first corner he had no brakes, taking out James Toseland as a result, before he remounted to finish a brave ninth. In race one Toseland ran off the wet track while with the leading group, but battled on to finish tenth. Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) had to contend with the wrong choice of rear tyre, fitted in error, in race two, and after a few laps started a charge to the back that saw him finish an eventual 14th. He nonetheless moves from ninth to eighth overall in the series, thanks to his race one win. RACE ONE OFFERS BONUS TO PRIVATE RIDERS With so many riders falling in the opening race, including potential podium rider Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) the privateer machines of Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France Ipone) and Max Neukirchner (Alstare Engineering Suzuki) ran out fifth and sixth, with the factory Ducati of Lorenzo Lanzi the top twin cylinder rider on show, seventh. He was followed by the private machine of Roberto Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi) and also Karl Muggeridge, who was in a podium scoring place before running off track in race one and then losing traction to finish 13th in race two. There were only 15 finishers in race one, but Steve Martin (Petronas FP-1) obtained the first of two points scoring results, with 12th in the wet opener, 11th in the dry second race. SECOND RACE OFFERS SECOND CHANCE FOR SOME Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) pulled out of race one after feeling a lack of confidence in his front fork performance in the rain, but he recovered in race two to score seventh, albeit dropping to sixth in the overall standings after a tough weekend. Xaus made a superb recovery in race two to fifth, and had he not found his rear traction diminishing slowly as time went on, he could have challenged for the podium right to the end. Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) a faller in race one, found chattering a problem in race two, but still finished in the top eight. A six-rider battle in the early laps featured Laconi in the vanguard. Rounding out the top ten, Toseland found his six points enough to put him second in the series, but a gearbox problem for Michel Fabrizio (DFX Treme Honda) put him 10th. Pierfrancesco Chili, Fabrizio’s team-mate, endured a crash in race one and a retirement from race two. Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France Ipone) damaged his back in race one, and us undergoing exploratory scans in hospital. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) rode the race of his life in wet conditions in a two-part aggregate Supersport race to secure the race win from new clear championship leader, Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany). After 21-laps of high-risk racing, another new star was born, Kai Borre Andersen (Hoegee Suzuki), who gave his team its first podium in WSS, finishing third, ahead of Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda). Local rider Arie Vos (J&E Sport Ten Kate Racing Honda) went fifth, with the Hoegee Suzuki team having a successful day, as Barry Veneman scored sixth. In the championship chase itself, Curtain has 151 points, Charpentier 144 and Broc Parkes 119. Parkes, running to a clear early lead in the wet track conditions of race one, fell heavily, and has suffered what initial test have concluded to be three broken ribs, a possibly fractured shoulder and a punctured lung. After his Assen race win, Kenan Sofuoglu now sits fifth overall, only two points behind Robbin Harms (Stiggy Motorsports Honda). SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP In a closely contested Superstock race Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) took his second race win of the year, in a delayed 13-lap race at the new-look Assen. Battling with Aussie Brendan Roberts (HP Racing), he passed on the final lap and Roberts ran off track at the final chicane in his attempt to get back into the lead. He finished second, with class leader Alessandro Polita (Celani team Suzuki) third. Polita now has a lead of 22 points from Ayrton Badovini, with Luca Scassa (EVR Corse Ormeni Racing) third, after finishing fifth at Assen. GERMANY AWAITS SBK AT LAUSITZ The tenth round of the championships is scheduled for 8-10 September, at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany. More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: MARTIN AT THE DOUBLE FOR FOGGY PETRONAS RACING Steve Martin secured a double points-scoring finish for Foggy PETRONAS Racing as hazardous conditions made for incident-packed racing at the ninth round of the superbike World Championship at Assen, Holland. The Australian kept a cool head in atrocious weather during race one to bring his PETRONAS FP1 safely home in 12th place. He then went one better with a strong finish to the dry second race, passing a number of riders in the closing stages to claim 11th place. But there was more misfortune for team-mate Craig Jones, who was a casualty in the chaos of the first lap of the first race when he punted off track into the gravel. Then, after a stunning start to race two when he was running in 14th place after four laps, his engine locked up and he was forced to pull in. Former FPR rider Chris Walker enjoyed the ride of his career to secure a comfortable victory from the back of the grid in the first race, before Troy Bayliss returned to form to claim victory in race two. Steve said: “To be in the points in both races was excellent. The second race was one of the hardest of my life. All my passes were through out-breaking and diving into the corners and I am really happy for everybody that we are in the points again. Bits were flying off someone’s bike in front of me at the start so I had to back off. And it’s no fun heading towards a wet first corner on slick tyres, with everyone aiming for the dry line! When the other guys had grip they headed into the distance but when they started to lose their grip later on I was able to maintain consistent times and make up some places. I did the best job I could in the first race as the bike is now pretty hard to ride in the wet because all the power is made at high revs. I ran off the track a few times because the rear end was locking up a bit too easily. With 10 laps to go I could see a big gap behind me, and lots of guys were crashing, so I knew I just had to finish the race.” Craig said: “We had to start at the back of the grid when a problem prevented me from making the sighting lap for the first race. For whatever reason I ended up on the outside and, going into the first corner, there was so much spray that everyone sat up and I was pushed onto the grass. I was carrying too much speed to do anything about it. That was a real shame because I had gone well in the wet in the morning warm-up session and was confident of scoring points. I had a great start to race two and was in front of Steve through the second corner but the bike started to lose power and then locked up on lap four. I don’t know what I have to do to deserve a bit of luck at the moment.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Xerox: BAYLISS MOVES ONE STEP CLOSER TO SUPERBIKE TITLE WITH RACE 2 WIN AT ASSEN Assen (Netherlands): Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) moved another step closer towards taking a second World Superbike title with his tenth win of the season at Assen. The Australian crashed out of the first race, held in dreadful weather conditions and won by Chris Walker (Kawasaki), but then had a relatively easy run to the maximum points in the second counter after his three main rivals Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha), James Toseland (Honda) and Troy Corser (Suzuki) were involved in a first-corner incident. Troy now leads the championship with 332 points, 100 ahead of Toseland and 102 ahead of Haga, with 150 points still up for grabs in the remaining three rounds. “In my opinion race 1 should have been stopped because there was far too much rain coming down” declared Troy. “In the end I was having trouble seeing where I was going and I went too much on the inside of the fast left down the back and completely aquaplaned. The back of the bike came around, with 210 km/h on the telemetry, threw me over the handlebars and that was it. Race 2 on the other hand was pretty easy after the first few laps. I’m really happy with how it turned out but honestly Assen has always been a rollercoaster ride for me and today was no different. I had a very fast off this morning in the rain but I’ve managed to increase the points lead and we all leave here very happy this afternoon”. Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi fell behind in the early laps of race 1 but then recovered to finish seventh in a decimated field, while he followed this up with a sixth place in race 2. “I think I showed that I wasn’t far off the pace today even though I didn’t obtain particularly great results” commented Lorenzo. “I went well in the wet in race 1 despite going wide on lap 2, and I believe I did a good second race in the dry. I managed to take Laconi after a lap battling with him because I had a faster pace. When I caught Ruben and the group fighting for third, there were just seven laps to the flag and I didn’t have any more front-end grip. I had gambled on a softer choice of rear tyre but instead I had problems with the front. Without that, maybe I could have fought for the podium. I hoped things would have gone a bit better at Assen, but they didn’t. Next Sunday there’s the Lausitz race, hopefully we’ll get a good result like last year”. More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: SURPRISE FOR THE FLOOD IN ASSEN’s RESULT After two practice day all raced on a dry track the rain did transform today the Assen’s races in a lottery, under a time schedule totally modified. In Superbike Roberto Rolfo ended both the races into the points, scoring a very good 8th position in Race-1, all run under the deluge. In gara-2 on the contrary the track dried just at starting time, forcing the teams to a troubled work to change the tyres on the starting grid. “Looking at the bad starting position today I had a very good day.” commented Roberto Rolfo at the end of the day. “At Race-1 start I was very quick, passing as 17th at the first split, then thank the race event allow me to seventh place that I lost just in the final lap, when Lanzi overtook me. In Race-2 on the contrary I remained prisoner in the gruop at the first corner and I need several laps to pass, however I’ve been able to score useful points for the championship standing. My engine pushed very well, as often, and the bike has been recorded as the fastest in the speed trap, but I’m still not confident with the handling, like all the week end. Now we go to Eurospeedway that is totally new for me; I’m hoping in a good result.” Stuart Easton has been the most positive between 749R Supersport riders, earning a good tenth final place in a dramatic race, rode in two parts because a red flag stop at eleventh lap. “I started quite well, passing Nannelli too who was just before me.” related after the race Stuart Easton. “Unfortunately starting from the back at the first split I had a seven seconds gap, after about a kilometer race. However we started to recover some place and at the red flag moment I was in 16th place. At the new start I slipped away and after a lap I earned three-four positions. The gap with the riders in front of me became, in the aggregate placing, too heavy and was impossible to recover, but I ended however in 10th place overall.” Gianluca Nannelli was riding a very good race and he was in 7th place after a fast race when he crashed just three laps to go, losing several positions. Stubborn as always “Nanna” rejoined the race ending as 15th, but today he could deverve a better prize. “In the first part of the race I didn’t get a good start, but early I earned several position and when they stopped the race I was in 12th position, as well 31,5 seconds behind the leader.” said Nannelli at the end of the race. “At the new start we modified the tyre pressur looking a better grip, but we got the wrong result. I recover to the 7th place, but it was a continuous fight with the bike. At the end I crashed, but I’ve been able to restart and score some point. That’s actually a pity, I’ve done a good race, I was the better of Italian riders and it could be a quite good result.” Luka Nedog has been not lucky; after recovering some position he crashed on the oil let by Duterne’s bike, crashed just in front of him and that has been cause of red flag stop. Unfortunately Luka has not been able to rejoin the pit in 5 minutes, as the new rules require to be allowed at the second start. “I started quite well.” commented Nedog at the end. “Then I earned some position too, when my bike flied away because the oil on the track let by a bike that crashed badly in front of me. The Race Direction stopped the race by red flag, but I was too far from to rejoin the pit in time. Actually I’ve been unlucky.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: ALSTARE SUZUKI SUFFERS AT ASSEN Reigning World Champion Troy Corser and team mate Yukio Kagayama both fell victims to the weather conditions at today’s World Superbike Championship round at Assen in Holland, crashing out of the opening race. And Corser left the event point-less after being taken out on the first corner of race two. After two days of dry conditions, the circuit was soaking wet by the time the first race got under away today. A lot of oil had also been spilled in the morning warm-up and the cleaning trucks had gone out twice before the riders felt confident enough to venture out in the rainy conditions. In race one, Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra’s Corser and Kagayama both fell foul of the slippery surface and were out of contention by eight laps. Corser crashed because his visor fogged up and he couldn’t see where he was going and Kagayama crashed when he hit a large puddle of standing water. The race was one of attrition and in the end only 15 riders out of 28 finished. Amongst the casualties were three of the top four in the title chase. Chris Walker (Kawasaki) started from last place but stormed through the field, mastering the difficult conditions to take his maiden World Superbike win. Second was Andrew Pitt (Kawasaki) with Michel Fabrizio third. By the time the second race started, the track was virtually dry, though there were still a few damp patches waiting to catch the riders out. Corser’s race lasted only to the first turn. His front wheel was hit by Haga’s bike, destroying the rim and damaging the disc in the process and when he tried to hit the brakes nothing happened and he crashed. Kagayama led for a substantial part of the race until his tyres went off. After that, all he could do was keep going and try and bring his GSX-R1000 Suzuki safely home. In the end, he took a hard-fought-for fourth behind Troy Bayliss (Ducati), Andrew Pitt and Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki). There was good news for Alstare Engineering Corona Extra: Max Neukirchner started in almost last position in the first race but rode steadily throughout the 22-lapper to take sixth place and 10 championship points. Despite the terrible conditions and several lurid slides, the young German somehow kept the bike upright and ignored all the mayhem around him. At the end he was less than half-a-second off fourth place. In race two, he was one of the riders caught out by a damp patch. He lost control and fell, fortunately without injury. Yukio Kagayama – Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 4th: “I am not so happy today because I believed I was going to get two podiums. The rain ruined everything and all I managed in the end was just one fourth place. The first race was very difficult because there was so much water on the track. In the beginning I was very careful in the new first section of the track because it felt very slippery there. I got into third place by lap seven and thought maybe I could stay in that position. I was particularly careful on the corner where Troy-san crashed, but maybe that was my undoing because I then crashed on the next corner! I hit a big puddle and the bike aquaplaned and that was it! “In the second race I made a good start and had a good battle with Bayliss. I think I Ied the race for maybe seven laps and then my tyres started to go off a lot. When Bayliss passed me, I could do nothing about it and from then to the end of the race I had to try and keep going as best I could.” Troy Corser – Race 1: DNF, Race 2: DNF: “I guess you could say that today was one to forget and the only good news is that I never hurt myself in the two crashes. The first race started well enough and I managed to lead Bayliss in the wet for a couple of laps. But soon my visor started fogging up and I was having to try and look out of the side of it just to see where I was going! At the kind of speed we were going, that isn’t good enough and when I looked up one time, I was off line and heading into a large patch of water. Next thing I knew I was down and my race was over. “In race two, there was an even bigger disaster: Haga was next to me off the line and heading toward turn one I think he missed a gear and then hit me. At first I didn’t know what happened and I tried to brake for the turn, but nothing happened. I went down and it was only when I looked at the front of my bike that I realised that the impact had broken my front wheel rim and damaged one of the brake discs. What a frustrating and disappointing day it has been – especially after taking Superpole yesterday. If today had been dry, I feel I would’ve taken two podiums for sure, but that’s racing.” Max Neukirchner – Race 1, 6th, Race 2: DNF: “Maybe starting at the back wasn’t so bad because I could take my time and see how the track was without doing anything silly. The conditions were treacherous and I had lots of slides, but I tried to ride as smoothly as I could and, as the race went on and riders kept falling, I began to pick up places. Towards the end, I was happy because I knew I has scored some good points, but it was one of those races where you had a 50 per cent chance of finishing and a 50 per cent chance of crashing. Fortunately for me, I finished! “Race two was not so good. Most of the track was dry, but there were a couple of places that were quite damp and I got caught out and down I went – simple as that. But this has been a great learning experience for me and now I’m looking forward to a track I know well- Lausitz – and continuing my learning curve.” SUPERSTOCK 600: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Xavier Simeon had to be satisfied with runner-up spot at Assen today after leading all but the last lap. Xavier started the race in storming style and looked set to rack up win number five this season, but his biggest rival Nicola Canepa (Ducati) slipped up the inside of him entering the final chicane and Xavier was unable to regain the lead. At the end, the margin of Canepa’s victory was only a 10th of a second. Third went to Davide Giugliano (Kawasaki), with Andrea Antonelli (Honda) fourth. Xavier Simeon – 2nd: “I am a bit cross with myself for letting Canepa get past me after all the good work I did during the race. I led from the start and I knew that he would mount a strong challenge in the closing stages and that’s what he did. Maybe I left a little gap on my inside going into the final chicane and he managed to make the pass. I tried to get on the gas early and overtake him on the run to the flag, but he just managed to hold me off. If I’d been a bit more aggressive in the final turn, maybe I would’ve hit him, so I did sort of ease off in the middle of the chicane, otherwise maybe we would have both gone down. But, it’s another 20 points and it’s Canepa who will be under pressure in the last three rounds. I have a 34 point advantage and I intend to maintain it. ” Superstock 600 Results: 1 Canepa (I-Ducati), 2 Xavier Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 3 Giugliano (I-Kawasaki), 4 Antonelli (I-Honda), 5 Junod (CH-Suzuki), 6 Walraven (NL-Suzuki). Championship Points: 1 Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 160, 2 Canepa 126, 3 Giugliano 100, 4 Antonelli 68, 5 Colucci 55, 6 Jezek 51. More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing: TOSELAND MOVES UP TO SECOND AS FABRIZIO SCORES A PODIUM James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) rode as hard as he has all season at his team’s home race but failed to score the podium places his practice form had promised. Tenth in race one and ninth in race two were his reward, and the points he gathered put him second in the championship, leapfrogging double crasher Noriyuki Haga. Michel Fabrizio (DFX Treme Honda CBR1000RR) made the most of an almost flooded Assen circuit in race one to score third place, Honda’s highest placed rider in either of the 22-lap SBK races. Race one saw almost half the riders in the race fall or retire at some stage, with Chris Walker taking his first career World Superbike win, from Andrew Pitt and Fabrizio. Michel had started from 14th on the grid after a disappointing Superpole, but was assured in his forward progress. Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) went ninth after crashing and rejoining, with James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) on the gravel at one stage, returning to the track to finish tenth. Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) retired with front suspension set-up concerns, having been forced to slow from a strong starting position of fifth. Pierfrancesco Chili (DFX Treme Honda CBR1000RR) crashed out of contention on lap five. In race two Barros was top Honda finisher, in seventh, but Toseland was taken out on the first corner, when he and Troy Corser tangled, in a crash where Noriyuki Haga also fell. James attempted to restart and rejoin the race, and fought his way back to a creditable ninth, one place up on Fabrizio, who had experienced gearbox issues. Muggeridge found his rear traction dropping off in an unexpected and dramatic fashion in race two, as he went from fourth to 13th, while Chili retired from race two. Toseland was unsure what to make of his Assen weekend, which promised much and delivered little. “In race two I had a decent start and got into the first corner OK – until I saw a Suzuki on top of me,” said James. “I understand he might have clipped Haga, so it may not be all Corser’s fault, but I went down and then climbed back on the bike. I still had my brakes working, but no fairing. But I got points and fought to the finish, and that gave me second place in the championship back. I did what I always do, and I never give up. If I had stopped and quit I would still be third. In race one we set off well, but my front locked on the first corner and I had to go straight. Unfortunately it took me a little bit of time to come back on track, and then I had a very bad feeling with the front tyre. If there we no problems and the track was dry we would have had two podiums for sure.” Fabrizio was delighted with race one, less so with his problems in the second race, including having to start from pitlane after a clutch change. He is now 11th overall, on 109 points. “Race one was perfect after a good dry qualifying but a bad Superpole result,” said Fabrizio. “Race two was very hard, as I had some internal problem in selecting gears and it really held me back. But I kept going to get the points.” Barros fifth in Superpole, found race one a trial despite a good start, but got some recompense in race two. He is now sixth overall, on 175 points. “I’m very disappointed about the races because the beginning of the weekend went very well,” said Barros. “I think I could win a race. But in the first race I had a big problem with the front. I just dropped down. I’m sure I stopped some of the riders at my back because this was a bike you could not ride. I could have crashed any time. In the first lap I still tried to attack a little bit but then I was pushing and pushing. In the second race the dry line in the beginning was very small and had to pay attention not to crash. It was a hazard to overtake other riders. So I lost a lot and after this I had to overtake other riders later in the race. This cost me a lot of time. When the track was clean I was not able to ride faster because I had no grip on this surface.” Muggeridge was on schedule for two strong results but one small error in race one and the unexpected outcome in race two finished his chances of making top three results. “My rear tyre just tore up after five laps in race two, and I went from doing low twos to low fives in one lap,” said Muggeridge. “Couldn’t do anything with that rear. I made a small mistake in race one and missed out on the podium really.” Chili retired in race two because he made a bad start and had two off track excursions, and he pulled in. “In the first race the conditions were terrible,” said Chili. “I was not the only one who crashed. In the second race I made a really bad start and then ran of track twice, so I decided to stop, rather than carry on for nothing.” WSS and SBK classes now head to Eurospeedway Lausitz, for round ten on 8-10 September.
