World Superbike Race Two Results: 1. Troy CORSER (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 28 Laps 2. Chris VERMEULEN (Honda CBR1000RR), -5.361 seconds 3. Chris WALKER (Kawasaki ZX-10R), -7.184 seconds 4. Noriyuki HAGA (Yamaha YZF-R1), -10.600 seconds 5. Norick ABE (Yamaha YZF-R1), -11.903 seconds 6. Ben BOSTROM (Honda CBR1000RR), -19.200 seconds 7. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suzuki GSX-R1000), -19.345 seconds 8. Andrew PITT (Yamaha YZF-R1), -23.246 seconds 9. David CHECA (Yamaha YZF-R1), -24.787 seconds 10. Pier Francesco CHILI (Honda CBR1000RR), -25.299 seconds 11. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yamaha YZF-R1), -25.495 seconds 12. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Honda CBR1000RR ), -27.833 seconds 13. Ivan CLEMENTI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), -31.339 seconds 14. Gianluca VIZZIELLO (Yamaha YZF-R1), -33.013 seconds 15. Lorenzo ALFONSI (Yamaha YZF-R1), -34.024 seconds 16. S. FUERTES (Suzuki GSX-R1000), -39.889 seconds 17. Steve MARTIN (Petronas FP-1), -41.728 seconds 18. Marco SANCHINI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), -50.912 seconds 19. James TOSELAND (Ducati 999F05), -1 Lap 20. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Honda CBR1000RR), -8 Laps, DNF, crash More, from a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda: DOUBLE SPANISH PODIUM FOR WINSTON’S VERMEULEN Chris Vermeulen scored another podium by finishing second to Troy Corser in race two of this afternoon’s World Superbike championship third round at Valencia in Spain. The 22-year-old Winston rider managed to keep in touch with his fellow-Australian and championship rival throughout the 23-lap race but had to fight off the attentions of Britain’s Chris Walker for most of the second half of the race. Vermeulen’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Karl Muggeridge, finished a disappointing weekend by crashing out on lap 15 of the second outing whilst sitting comfortably in a strong seventh place. With his 40-point haul from today’s two races, Vermeulen moves up to third place in the points table as the championship gears up for round four at Monza in Italy in two weeks time. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “That was a great ride from Chris just like in the first race when he had to battle for many laps under a lot of pressure. From what I could see he made no mistakes and protected his position lap after lap. It was a different challenger this time but the result was the same and I am happy for him and the team to take two second places away from what has been a very difficult weekend. I’m disappointed for Karl again as his weekend has been even harder. We’ll have to try and find out what caused his crash but it’s a shame that he wasn’t able to bring his bike home for some valuable and well-deserved points. We’ll regroup and study all the data to make sure that we’re fighting for more podium positions at Monza.” Chris Vermeulen second: “That was just as hard as it was in race one but at least I was able to stay relatively close to Troy (Corser). He’s riding so well but I think we’re moving in the right direction every time we go out and hopefully, by the time we get to Monza, we will have closed the gap even more. Chris (Walker) showed what a good rider he is but when I saw a yellow bike behind me I assumed it would be Kagayama. Chris put me under a lot of pressure so it was important not to make a mistake. The Honda is pretty fast so I knew I was OK down the straights. I just had to brake as heavy as I dared into the corners. The track was pretty slippery and it was very hard to turn on the brakes, especially in the early part of the lap. But I’m happy to be on the podium again and to have collected a good load of points.” Karl Muggeridge DNF “What can I say? It’s been a very tough weekend not just for me but for the team as well. Once again we seem to be making some steps forward as we get through practice and qualifying but it’s not quite enough to get a good set-up for racing. I was feeling pretty comfortable in that race, though, not pushing too hard and trying to conserve the tyres for the end of the race. I just lost the front and tried to save it but my foot was stuck under the bike and that was it.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: TOUGH WEEKEND FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM AT VALENCIA Valencia (Spain), Sunday 24 April: Round 3 of the World Superbike Championship proved to be a difficult weekend for the Ducati Xerox Team as Régis Laconi missed both races due to a crash in the morning warm-up, while James Toseland did the best he could from a sixth row starting-grid position. “Unfortunately it was a weekend to forget for us” declared Ducati Xerox Team director Paolo Ciabatti. “This morning Régis was quicker than everyone in the warm-up but his crash meant that he could not take part in the two races, in which I am sure he would have given Corser a hard time. James on the other hand, was unable to find the right direction in qualifying and this conditioned his two races on Sunday. Now is the time to concentrate on Monza and focus all of our energies on the next round, which is traditionally an important appointment for Superbike and for Ducati”. Laconi was ruled out of the action today after a crash half-way through the morning warm-up, when contact was made with a slow-moving rider on the outside of the final curve. Laconi suffered concussion and was immediately examined by on-circuit doctors before being taken to Valencia hospital for an MRI scan, and for precautionary reasons a decision was taken for him not to race. “I am fine but now I just need a few days to recover for Monza. It’s a track I like, we are at home and Ducati is always very fast” declared Laconi. “This was a very big crash and I feel very lucky because I could easily have broken something and been out of action for some time. I am obviously disappointed because I wanted to take part in the second race, but I did receive a big bang on the head and was unconscious for a few minutes so the doctors said it was better that I didn’t.” James Toseland finished eighth in race 1 from his 23rd grid position and 19th in the second race after he had to make a pit-stop to change the front wheel following a lap 4 incident caused by another rider. “I was riding round with people I shouldn’t be riding round with, given the qualifying position” said Toseland. “I got a decent start again but going into turn 4 a Yamaha came steaming underneath me and pushed me really wide. I was lucky to stay on and then had to change the front tyre because the brakes were locking up. Monza is the next race, we just need to find some traction because there’s not much wrong with the top speed of the bike. We’re struggling and we need to find the form again but there’s nothing wrong with the bike and nothing wrong with me. We rode hard in the first race but couldn’t really do much more after going off the track in race 2.” More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: Pain in Spain for Foggy PETRONAS Racing Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s suffered another day of disappointment at the third round of the Superbike World Championship in Valencia, Spain. Steve Martin finished the second race of the afternoon in 17th, having crashed in the first race. Team-mate Garry McCoy was unable to finish the first contest after his bike developed engine problems and the Australian was taken out by another rider in race two. The team had spent the most of the first two days of qualifying trying a new stage of engine development, although Steve reverted to the previous specification for both races. Garry opted for the newer engine in the second race in a bid to gather more data for the next round at Monza, where the latest developments are expected to have a more significant effect. Team manager Jack Valentine said: “The whole team has put in an extremely motivated performance and we are not getting the results we feel we deserve. The riders are pushing hard to pick up as many points as possible, as could be seen in Steve’s crash in the first race. I would put his result in the second race down to a tyre problem, although we know we are still struggling with punch out of the corners. Garry was unlucky in both races. I think we have benefited from using the latest engine development here and, although we have more work to do at Monza, we are hoping that circuit will suit the engine better than this tight track.” Steve said: “There are not too many positives to take out of the weekend, although we will hopefully get some benefit from using the latest engine during qualifying here when we go to Monza. I tried my hardest in the second race and the bike was better in the braking areas than in the first race. But, when the tyre started to go off, I didn’t have enough control or feel. In the first race, Nieto was holding me up and if I had sat there any longer the pack behind me would have come past. I had overtaken him twice but he immediately passed me back down the start-finish straight. I lost the front end trying to make another overtaking move stick because, if I had got past him at that part of the circuit, I would have half a lap in which to make a bit of a gap on him.” Garry said: “Unfortunately, this was just a repeat of Phillip Island for me. After not finishing the first race, I went into the second really wanting to finish, no matter what. But, from starting where we are on the grid, we are playing around with people that we shouldn’t be. I was playing everything pretty safe but Silva had passed me three times already and each time had run wide. On lap four I passed him again down the front straight and, as I started braking, he flew back past and ran wide again. Then he came from off line into the white paint and left me with nowhere to go. When we touched, my rear end lost traction and span me round. In the first race I noticed on the grid that we had a bit more tail wind than we had had all weekend, which worried me. Sure enough, I was running out of gears at the end of the straight and was on the hard limiter a couple of times. I was being patient with the guys in front as a few of them were pushing very hard but I was losing out on the str aights and getting held up in the corners before the engine problem occurred. So I decided to use the latest specification engine for race two and wanted to get as much information for Monza as possible.” More, from a press release issued by Suzuki Racing: DOUBLE VICTORY FOR CORSER IN SPAIN Team Suzuki Press Office – April 24, 2005. World Superbike Championship leader Troy Corser raced his Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra GSX-R1000 to a sensational double victory at today’s third round in Valencia, Spain as team mate Yukio Kagayama scored hard-fought third and seventh places. Corser led the first race from start to finish and took the chequered flag over nine seconds ahead of Chris Vermeulen (Honda) as Kagayama climbed from seventh to a rostrum third position. But Corser had to work a bit harder in race two after Andrew Pitt (Yamaha) got the holeshot and led the first lap. On lap two, the Suzuki rider made his move and from then on in the result was never in doubt. This time the margin of victory was less – just over five seconds – but the demoralising effect on his rivals was just the same. Vermeulen took runner-up spot after a terrific battle with Chris Walker who finished third. Troy Corser – Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 1st: “It’s been a perfect weekend and I want to thank the whole Alstare team for making it all possible. Conditions were very variable today – due to the change in track temperature – but we had done all the groundwork in qualifying and were ready for anything. I used the same rear tyre for both races but it didn’t work as well in race two because the temperature was higher. “The first race was pretty comfortable for me and I just controlled things right from the start and left the rest to sort themselves out. In race two, I was a bit surprised to see Andrew Pitt get off the line ahead of me and lead into turn one. I wanted to pass him as soon as possible because I wanted to run my own race, so I overtook him on lap two. I then pushed quite hard for about eight laps and made a bit of a break, but in doing that, I think I must have worn the rear tyre out a bit. So I eased the pace, conserved the tyres and kept and eye on my pit-board. “The wind in race two was a bit of a problem because it was different in different parts of the circuit. But it was great to do another double and extend my lead in the championship to 31 points.” Yukio Kagayama – Race 1: 3rd, Race 2: 7th: “Today I am a lucky man or maybe double lucky. In the first race, I had moved up to fourth with Norick Abe in third but too far away. Then he crashed two laps from the end and suddenly I was third and on the podium! I was also lucky in the second race because I didn’t crash! I had very little feeling in my tyres – maybe because of the high track temperature – and I overshot one turn because I had no grip. I recovered OK, but the leading group was too far to catch. After that I had to go more slowly because I knew I would crash if I went faster. I am happy for Troy-san and our team and I am still second in the championship so I think I am lucky.” More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information: VERMEULEN TAKES PODIUMS IN A GAME OF TWO HALVES A change of 18 degrees in track temperature between race one and race two made it a difficult day for all Superbike competitors at this notoriously fickle circuit. Dry track conditions and the first non-interrupted race weekend of the year were nonetheless welcomed by everyone. Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) took two personal season bests, runner up to Troy Corser (Suzuki) on two occasions. In race one he had to fight off the challenge of eventual late crasher Norick Abe to hold onto his 20 points, some 9.116 seconds off the lead. As second best Superpole qualifier, Vermeulen equalled his qualifying best position in the races. Despite a recently injured left collarbone, Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) rode a lonely race to seventh in the opener. Chili’s team-mate and front row qualifier Max Neukirchner survived a massive lap one highside relatively unscathed, despite flying for some distance and landing hard on the unyielding Valencia tarmac. Winston Ten Kate Honda rider Karl Muggeridge’s first race was equally dramatic, if less painful, as he was run off track by Neukirchner’s crash, fell in the gravel, remounted, crashed once more on lap 19, before retiring from a non-points scoring position. It was more joyous for Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda KOJI) who scored 11th place in the first running. The second race was a mirror image of the first in the top two positions, Corser from Vermeulen, with Chris Walker’s Kawasaki third on this occasion. Ben Bostrom’s day was a sunny as the weather when he scored sixth in race two, making up for a technical problem which ruined his first Superpole off the season, and forced him to start from 16th on the grids. An exhausted Chili nursed his recently operated collarbone to 10th in race two; mistakes and a painful throttle hand for Neukirchner putting him 12th. Muggeridge’s dismal day ended with a second crash, on lap 16. For Vermeulen, a race one second was a particular highlight, but did not come as easily as the results would indicate, and his race two repeat was maybe even tougher, with Walker climbing on his rear end for much of the race, only dropping off in the last few laps. “That was really hard work,” stated Vermeulen. “The conditions were very slippery compared to last year’s race which was held earlier in the year. I think the higher temperatures here mean that the tyres are having to work much harder, so grip is a problem for everyone. Race two was as hard as race one but at least I was able to stay relatively close to Troy. But I’m happy with two podiums and to have collected a whole load of points.” Bostrom felt that both he and his new team had turned a corner at Valencia, after two good results, with different placings mainly due to his relative lack of starting prowess in race one. “That felt a lot better, it was nice to run up there in the top six but I need to get more aggressive on the starts though,” he smiled. “I was a little tentative the first race then in race two I was a little better. I got behind some of those faster guys but could not quite get past them. It was frustrating but it was fun watching Kagayama in front of me. We said we would come here and turn it around and to some extent we did. Now we are in the top ten, I want to be in the top five at Monza.” Chili was upbeat, if beaten up, by the rigours of 46 full speed race laps, his 40-year-old body protesting towards the end. “My left arm and shoulder are finished after two races. I have no grip in my hand and it was impossible to brake hard any more. But I finished both races, and took points. After breaking my collarbone, I was maybe not going to be able to race here, so we should be happy with the points.” Neukirchner’s second race was hampered by his race one crash, having slapped his right hand down hard, losing both power and control to some degree. “In the first race I had a big highside,” said a smiling Neukirchner, who nevertheless realised it could have had an even more negative outcome. “It came round so quickly and then I think I went up about five meters! I made a little mistake on the brake in race two and that made it a very hard race in the second part. I am not happy but I am not too badly injured. I have hurt my throttle and braking hand and that did not help me in race two.” Muggeridge had his third DNF in a row, cursing his misfortunes in each race. “I couldn’t believe it when Neukirchner’s bike went up in the air in front of me. I’ve got a big black mark from one of his tyres down the back of my shoulder and had to duck to get out of its way. I guess I was lucky not to go off right then but managed to get all the way through the gravel and then slid off right at the end. When I eventually got going again my lap times would have had me battling for fourth, I think. I was pretty comfortable in race two, not pushing too hard and conserving tyres for the end of the race. Then I just lost the front and tried to save it, but my foot was stuck under the bike and that was it.” In the championship battle, Vermeulen is third and has 90 points to Corser’s 141, with Neukirchner sixth, on 41. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga battled changeable track conditions at a warm and sunny Valencia to secure a fifth and fourth place finishes in the 23-lap races, making himself the highest placed Yamaha rider on the day. With track temperatures increasing from 22°C in race one to 40°C in race two, grip altered considerably from race to race, complicating matters for all four of Yamaha’s supported riders. Both races saw Troy Corser (Suzuki) take the win, followed by Chris Vermeulen (Honda). A seemingly sure third place, and a possible second, for Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) in the opener ended in the gravel as the Japanese rider slid off his machine into the first right hand corner on the 19th lap. He would end race two in fifth place, despite losing adhesion on the hotter track, to move up one championship place: fifth overall and the leading R1 rider. Haga’s team-mate Andrew Pitt also fell in race one, while holding fourth position on lap six. The Australian held a podium position for much of race two, but slipped back due to a misfire. Starting from row five of the grid each time, Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) had an excellent ride through the field in race one, securing sixth. In the second outing an overheating engine stopped him from progressing beyond 11th. Corser’s double win extended his lead at the head of the championship. Abe moved to fifth position in the championship, with 44 points, while Haga’s good points scores push him to seventh, on 40. Pitt lies eighth with 39, Gimbert 12th with 26. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “OK, we got fifth in race one and fourth in race two but it’s not good enough for me, because as a racer you always want to win. I have to remember that the bike is still developing. We have only finished three meetings so we need to improve more, step-by-step. I think it will be better though. We are improving and compared to Friday we have made big progress. Now we have a test at Monza this week and this should give us a good chance to prepare for the team’s home race.” Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “I tried to stay with them in race two but I just lost one tenth each lap. The more laps I had, the more I had to be careful. After a few laps the rear tyre started to lose performance but the electrical problem at the end probably cost me three places.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italia) “Before we arrived here I said that we would be happy with podiums and we nearly got them. On Friday we were looking almost looking at a disaster, but immediately on Saturday we improved a lot. But both riders finished race two. Andrew’s machine had a small problem in that race. In the last two laps he slowed up, with a misfire. But considering our position on Friday, we cannot be too disappointed.” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “It was unlucky to crash in race one as I had a good feeling on the bike. I knew 100 percent that I could get third but there was a rider immediately in front of me so I wanted second; it’s better than third. Maybe I pushed the front too hard, so I crashed. Race two was held in very different conditions, a warmer track for example, and the rear grip was less from the beginning. That was more of a disappointment than race one.” Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) “In the last couple of laps of race two the engine overheated and I lost a lot of power. That made it incredibly difficult for me. There was also a big change in the track conditions between race one and race two, and that made the bike slide a lot more in the second one. Race one was OK, a good finish in sixth.” Martial Garcia (Team Manager – Yamaha Motor France) “Not so bad. Of course in the second race less people crashed so the places were worse but we are happy because we have made the chassis better, gained some confidence, even if we have lost a possible podium. Now we have to work on the engine some more. Sebastien’s engine overheated, so we need to inspect the radiator. Because it lost power as it heated up, he dropped down positions. But we have shown again we are at a high level and we are fifth in the world championship with Abe. This is not so bad for the start of the season.” More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: PAIN IN SPAIN FOR TEAM SC CARACCHI Team SC Caracchi suffered a quite black day at the third round of the Superbike World Championship in Valencia, Spain. In Superbike Lorenzo Lanzi, after a good start in Race-1, remained involved with any responsibility in the incident between Muggeridge and Neukirchner during the first lap and in the crash brake his left collarbone. The unlucky rider from Cesena flied subit in Italy and next Tuesday will have a surgery operation in Imola Hospital to reduce his fracture and try to able for the Italian round in Monza next May 8. Fonsi Nieto has been not able to give to the 35000 Spanish fans present at R.Tormo Circuit any moment of happiness. His bike became hard to ride after a few laps and after a difficult Race-1 he preferred to stop when started with the same problems during Race-2. In Supersport Gianluca Nannelli started pushing hard, recovering the sixth position just behind the group fighting for the victory, but then the tyres started to give way and Gianluca lost a couple of positions that he had actually deserved. A disappointed Lorenzo Lanzi looks at the other riders joining the starting grid, forced to renounce for his broken collarbone in the accident between Vermeulen and Neukirchner. “I started quite well and at the first holeshot I was in tenth position.” said Lorenzo Lanzi. “than something happened between Muggeridge and Neukirchner, both crashed and I found in front of me the bike of Neukirchner running crazy on the track and I crashed landing on my shoulder. I hope to be able for Monza. I’m actually unhappy because after the great work we have done all the team deserved a satisfying result, but actually we’ve not been lucky today.” At the end of Race-2, after the meeting with the team, Fonsi too isn’t happy. “I’m not happy at all because during the morning’s warm up I had a fast pace and I was confident in a good result for the race.” said a disappointed Fonsi Nieto at the end. “Then for the race everything changed. In Race-1 I made a good start and at the end of the first lap I was in tenth position, but early the bike became impossible to ride, but I decided however to finish to improve my experience. We were thinking a wrong rear tyre and for Race-2 we select another tyre, but things didn’t change, more I had a bad start and somebody did touch me in the accident of McCoy, so I decided to enter the pit.Now I hope to find a solution for next round in Monza.” Also Gianlu Nannelli is very angry, because the lost positions during the final stage of Supersport race. “At the moment we enter the track for the grid the sky was cloudy and we select a soft tyre.” said a disappointed Gianluca Nannelli. “Then when we were waiting for the warm up lap the sun appeared and the temperature increased suddenly, so I rode some good lap and I grabbed the sixth position, but at the middle of the race the bike lost the grip and the bike started to slide everywhere.Then at the end I had some trouble with the front brake and I’ve been no more able to fight with Parkesande Veneman and I lost a couple of positions. My machine was very very fast, the fastest on the grid, but I wasn’t more able to open the throttle outing the corners.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: JUST A PERFECT DAY! Troy completely destroyed the opposition at Valencia today, winning both races and making it a perfect fifty points. He had dominated both qualifying sessions and also won Superpole, but the manner in which he controlled both 23-lappers today was nothing short of remarkable. He led the first race from start to finish and even though he slowed in the closing stages, he still ran out the winner by over nine seconds. Chris Vermeulen (Honda) was second, with Troy’s team mate Yukio Kagayama third. Troy didn’t get the holeshot in race two and was surprised to see Andrew Pitt (Yamaha) make the break and lead into turn one. But Pitt’s lead was short lived and by the end of lap two, Troy was in front and in control. This time he took the chequered flag five seconds ahead of his nearest challenger Chris Vermeulen, with Chris Walker (Kawasaki) third. TROY – Race 1: 1st, Race 2: 1st Well that was just about perfect. The bike worked like a dream and although there were grip problems for all of us – due to the changing conditions – I was still able to control both races. I used the same rear tyre for both races, but there didn’t seem to be as much grip in the second race. The track temperature was quite a bit hotter, so that probably is the explanation. We had done our homework in the two days of qualifying, so we were well prepared for the changing track conditions. I made a good start in race one and pretty much controlled things from the front. I kept an eye on my pit-board, so I knew what I had to do. On the last lap or so, I did a bit of showboating – for the fans and for the TV viewers. In race two, I saw Andrew (Pitt) get off the line ahead of me, but I didn’t panic and try to get him before turn one. I waited until the moment was right and then overtook him. I then pushed quite hard for about seven or eight laps, to make a break on the rest, and that probably affected the tyres quite a bit. So, in the later stages of the race, I used different lines (to use different parts of the tyres) and eased off a little. It is always great to do a double and it was the perfect end to a perfect weekend. I have to thank all my team and all at Alstare for giving me a great bike to ride. I’d like to dedicate my wins today to a good friend in Australia, whose father died recently. She has been a bit low as a result, so I am sure this will bring a smile to her face.
