Rojo Racing’s Jason Perez was injured April 1, at Buttonwillow Raceway Park practicing for the upcoming AFM event on April 3, 2005. At the time of the accident, he was riding his Yamaha R6. Jason said “I was riding hard on Friday trying to get the R6 setup, the sessions were very crowded, it seemed like you were passing someone in every other corner. Towards the end of the day, we were getting close to a good setup, but made an error in predicting a slower riders’ line and collided with him causing both of us to crash. I’m very sorry for my actions and I’m glad the other rider was not injured.” After further evaluation, doctors have determined that his elbow is broken, and that it will require surgery. Perez will most likely miss the 2nd round of the AMA Superstock Series to be held at Barber Motorsports Park and will be questionable for the 3rd round of the series at California Speedway. He will also miss the 4th round of WSMC at Willow Springs, which he currently leads the overall points standings.

1. Corser, Suzuki GSX-R1000 2. Kagayama, Suzuki GSX-R1000 3. Neukirchner, Honda CBR1000RR 4. Vermuelen, Honda CBR1000RR 5. Nieto, Ducati 999R 6. Corradi, Ducati 999R 7. Laconi, Ducati 999F05 8. Abe, Yamaha YZF-R1 9. Bussei, Kawasaki ZX-10R 10. Sanchini, Kaw ZX-10R 11. Ben Bostrom, Honda CBR1000RR 12. Andrew Stroud, Suzuki GSX-R1000 13. Lanzi, Ducati 999R 14. Paria, Yamaha YZF-R1 15. Alfonsi, Yamaha YZF-R1 More, from a press release issued by FGSport: 2005 CORONA EXTRA SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PHILLIP ISLAND (AUSTRALIA) 1/2/3 APRIL 2005 RACE REPORT CORSER DOUBLES UP FOR SUZUKI AT WINDY AND WET PHILLIP ISLAND Weather Can’t Keep Corser Down: The wet start to raceday at Phillip Island cleared shortly after morning warm up but the strong north winds gathered pace as the first Superbike race of the day got underway, at 12 noon local time. Race one was taken, in convincing fashion, by local hero Troy Corser (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki). The 25 knot winds, gusting to 40 knots on occasion, did not help any of the riders in their quests, especially during fast changes of direction into the prevailing gales. As the winds abated slightly, the rains duly returned to halt race two after 12 laps, and leave a ten lap ‘wet’ race to be completed. The result was declared as an aggregate of leg one and two, delivering a magnificent double to Troy Corser who now leads the World Championship from twice second place finisher, Yukio Kagayama. Race 1: Troy Corser took the lead into the first corner and kept it for all 22 laps of the race, winning by a margin of 8.279 seconds, from his own team-mate, Yukio Kagayama. The fight for third place, which was to be determined some 12.551 seconds down on Corser at the flag, was a seven rider battle at one stage, as early runner Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) eventually faded from his impressive start to finish fifth, behind an awesome fight between Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) and Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda). Touching fairings at one stage, the pair battled it out right to the very end, with Vermeulen scoring the podium, but Neukirchner covering himself in glory. The 21-year-old German’s success was consolation for his Klaffi Honda team, as their lead rider Pierfrancesco Chili suffered a broken collarbone on Saturday. Race 2: In the second race, a harsh fall of rain stopped the race, and as the contest had not yet reached the two thirds stage, a second leg was called. This second ten lap race was run under ‘wet’ rules, with the aggregate leaders from the first race being Troy Corser, Regis Laconi (Ducati Xerox) and Max Neukirchner. Corser, leading for a period, was re-passed by Kagayama, but won the aggregate race by 5.822 seconds, from his Japanese team-mate. Third, on the track and on aggregate, was German sensation, Max Neukirchner, his first podium score in only his fourth-ever World Superbike race. Off Podium Fights: Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) ended the day in fourth place in the championship fight, after a fourth in race two and fifth in race one. Starting from row three these were impressive results, and unlike many other riders, he was to finish both races. His team-mate Karl Muggeridge, finished eighth in race one, but fell in race two – after a collision with fellow crasher world champion James Toseland (Xerox Ducati). Laconi Battles Hard: After a lowly seventh in race one, Regis Laconi (Ducati Xerox) looked on course for a second place finish in the re-run. When the rains came, he had to make an acrobatic save of a potential high side approaching Lukey Heights, fell from his Ducati, and then bravely restarted, to finish his day with a pair of seventh places. His team-mate Toseland had an even tougher day, finishing race one only 14th, after a bad start and some grip issues throughout. After his second race tangle with Muggeridge at the hairpin, he slipped to eighth in the championship, on 22 points. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati SC 999RS) was disqualified from the race when his machine was found to be underweight, promoting all riders behind him up one place, and earning Toseland his two points. Yamaha Riders Tough It Out: A challenging day for the Yamaha Motor Italia squad saw Andrew Pitt’s fifth place in race one become the highlight of the weekend, as he crashed out in race two on two occasions. Noriyuki Haga also had woes as the Japanese rider suffered a retirement in race one and a crash at exactly the same corner in the wet part of race two as Pitt. The Yamaha Motor France pairing of Norick Abe and Sebastien Gimbert had different fortunes in race trim, as Abe scored a sixth in the dry and an eighth in the interrupted race two. Gimbert had clutch troubles which left him 11th in race one, and an electrical problem in race two robbed him of any more points. Jose Luis Cardoso (Yamaha DFX Extreme Sterilgarda) burned his clutch in race one, pulling in on lap one and he once more failed to finish race two. Kawasaki Nearly There In the Wet: Chris Walker (PSG-1 Ducati) had the pleasure of leading the second wet leg of race two, but like three other riders, crashed around turn eight, and was unable to continue. He thus had a high point of ninth in race one. In race two, Giovanni Bussei (Bertocchi Kawasaki) was the highest placed Kawasaki rider, confirming himself in ninth place on aggregate. Bostrom Scores: Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji) had to retire from race one, but after being outgunned in the dry section of race two, he had greater pace in the second wet leg, finishing 11th, and adding his name to the points table. Petronas Riders Out of Luck: Garry McCoy and Steve Martin failed to take a race finish between them, as neither Petronas FP-1 made it through race one, and then Martin crashed out on race two, in a bizarre double fall. He jumped off right in front of the following Andrew Pitt, without either rider’s machines touching each other, and with neither rider to blame for the other’s accident. Nieto Nets A Goal: Fonsi Nieto (SC Ducati 999RS) took a convincing fifth place in race two, thanks in part to his wet weather prowess. The big-name Spaniard has great experience of Phillip Island, but not on his current Ducati four-stroke. This was his first top five in World Superbike. Supersport: High winds delayed the start of the 21-lap Supersport race, as trackside advertising hoardings, two TV towers and pit lane awnings blew over. With grey clouds rushing past overhead, the 19-strong Supersport grid formed up for battle, in a contest eventually taken by Winston Ten Kate Honda rider Sebastien Charpentier. His win propelled him to the top of the championship table with 45 points. Young Italian charger Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike) took an early lead, but was rebuffed by the charging Yamaha Motor Germany R6 of experienced rider Kevin Curtain. Fabrizio failed to finish the race, with only three laps to go, but Curtain finished second, to take third in the championship with 33 points. Qatar race winner Katsuaki Fujiwara (Winston Ten Kate Honda) lost his personal battle with third place man Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda), taking fourth place in the race and now sitting second overall, on 39 points. A strong ride on a circuit he knows well gave Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Ducati Selmat) a fine fifth place. The next rounds of both World Superbike and Supersport take place back in Europe, at Valencia in Spain, from 22-24 April. More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: 2005 World Superbike championship, round two Phillip Island, Australia Race two Sunday, 3 April 2005 MORE POINTS FOR VERMEULEN BUT DISAPPOINTMENT FOR MUGGERIDGE Chris Vermeulen finished in fourth place in a rain-interrupted second race at Phillip Island this afternoon in round two of the 2005 World Superbike championship. The race was won by fellow-Australian, Troy Corser, but Vermeulen’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Karl Muggeridge retired after crashing out on lap six of the 22-lapper. Starting in dry but very windy conditions, race two was red-flagged on lap 13 as further rain fell on the 4.4km Phillip Island circuit. Vermeulen collected a further 13 points from the restart to follow up his third place in race one and retains fourth place in the championship standings. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “It’s a pity about the weather here today because in the first dry part of that second race, Chris’s lap times were improving and he was making another charge towards a podium finish just like in race one. Unfortunately we couldn’t complete the job in the wet second half but that’s how it goes sometimes. At least he collected another handful of points. I feel sorry for Karl, who has endured a tough day. I feel he deserved a lot more after qualifying so well but we’ll regroup and hope for better things when we return to Europe.” Chris Vermeulen fourth “I had some good starts today but it just span up like crazy in the wet restart so I couldn’t get away as well as I needed to. It was really slippery out there worse than in warm-up and the wind didn’t help. I was going fine again in the dry and felt really comfortable but at least I got a few points today. A third and a fourth from ninth on the grid isn’t so bad. Imagine what we could do from pole position; but I haven’t had that pleasure yet. Then again, I’ve never started from the third row either!” Karl Muggeridge DNF “It was getting pretty aggressive in that first part of race two but I was comfortable and the bike was feeling good, even though I hadn’t got a great start. I was battling with James Toseland and we got into a situation at turn 10 where I just had nowhere to go. It’s disappointing because we’d been making steady progress right through the weekend and had a pretty good qualifying and Superpole. After the crash in warm-up this morning I wanted a couple of good results for the team, who have worked really hard, but I guess that’ll have to wait until Valencia.” World Superbike, Phillip Island – race two results, aggregate times (22 laps, 97.79kms): 1 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki) 37m34.183s, 2 Yukio Kagayama JPN (Suzuki) +5.822s, 3 Max Neukirchner GER (Honda) +10.897, 4 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) +18.757, 5 Fonsi Nieto ESP (Ducati) +53.089, 6 Alessio Corradi ITA (Ducati) +54.127, 7 Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati) +58.076, 8 Norick Abe JPN (Yamaha)+1:03.328, 9 Giovanni Bussei ITA (Kawasaki) +1:04.355, 10 Mauro Sanchini ITA (Kawasaki) +1:08.754. Championship points after two of 12 rounds: Corser 91, Kagayama 85, Laconi 54, Vermeulen 50, Neukirchner 37, Abe 33, Andrew Pitt AUS (Yamaha) 31, James Toseland GBR (Ducati) 22, Bussei 20, Nieto 17, Muggeridge 15. Next round: Valencia, Spain 24 April More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: CHANGEABLE WEATHER CONDITIONS BRING MIXED FORTUNES FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM AT PHILLIP ISLAND Phillip Island (Australia), Sunday 3 April: Ducati Xerox Team riders Régis Laconi and James Toseland came away from the second round of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island with mixed results as they were hampered by a lack of grip in race 1 and then had to deal with changeable weather conditions in a rain-affected two-part second race. Seventh and fourteenth respectively were all Régis and James could manage in a windy race 1 after starting from rows 2 and 3 of the grid as Corser (Suzuki) took the win. “I never had to ride so hard to stay on the bike because the front was just going away all the time” declared Laconi. “I lost it five times at the same place at 220 kph because of the wind or the tyres, I don’t know which. It was so crazy that I couldn’t even stay on the bike and I just did the best I could do. I passed everyone to move up to fourth and thought I was OK but then it was so difficult because after 6 or 7 laps the bike was just so hard to ride”. Toseland instead had problems with his rear tyre, which prevented him from making an impact on the race after just a few laps. “I got a bad start and almost went off at the first corner and that dropped me down to fifteenth. After that I just started to lose grip very early on and that was it for my race” he declared. Race 2 was red-flagged for rain after just over half-distance, with Laconi four seconds behind Corser in second place. In the final ten laps, which were run on full wets, Laconi did his best to maintain that position but had a nasty moment when he lost control of the rear of his 999 at Lukey Heights and crashed. The Frenchman was able to restart but eventually finished seventh overall. “I made a good start and had a good first lap to be immediately up with the leaders. Troy was a bit faster than me but I kept second place well. I was happy because we changed the bike totally from the first race and now it was so good, so thanks to my team for giving me something different for the second race. I started to ride it in the wet but the rear shock was too hard and after three laps the rear tyre was finished. When I crashed, the rear went away and I made a big highside. I restarted the bike with the starter and got back in the race to finish seventh”. Toseland meanwhile was already out of his one-hundredth world superbike race on lap 6 after being taken out from behind by Muggeridge (Honda) at Honda Corner. “I’m going away from here with two points after working so hard this weekend. I was up there in top 5 in every practice on race tyres, so it wasn’t a coincidence. In Superpole the time I did would have put me second in every other session and I was tenth, then we had problems with the rear in race 1 and with Muggeridge who cut me up in race 2. What more can I say?”. RACE 1: 1. Corser (Suzuki); 2. Kagayama (Suzuki); 3. Vermeulen (Honda); 4. Neukirchner (Honda); 5. Pitt (Yamaha); 6. Abe (Yamaha); 7. Laconi (Ducati Xerox); etc. RACE 2 : 1. Corser ; 2. Kagayama ; 3. Neukirchner; 4. Vermeulen; 5. Nieto (Ducati); 6. Corradi (Ducati); 7. Laconi; etc. POINTS: (Riders) Corser 91, Kagayama 85, Laconi 54, Vermeulen 50, Neukirchner 37, Abe 33, etc. (Manufacturers) Suzuki 100, Ducati 56, Honda 53, Yamaha 41, Kawasaki 21, Petronas 1. More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing: HONDA RACING INFORMATION World Supersport and Superbike Championships 2005 Round 2 of 12 Phillip Island Circuit Australia Phillip Island Race Report 3 APRIL 2005 CHARPENTIER THE WINNER AT WIND TORN PHILLIP ISLAND Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) secured the lead in the World Supersport Championship after a masterful win in the high winds which plagued Phillip Island. With the morning rains clearing away before race action started in earnest, 25 knot winds – with gusts up to 40 knots, took over the attentions of all 19 Supersport entrants and eventually delayed the start of the 21-lap Supersport race. Charpentier, starting from pole, had to fight hard for his win, after a poor start left him eighth off the line. Into the lead for the first time on lap four he had an almost race long fight with Yamaha rider Kevin Curtain, who eventually faded to finish second, 3.595 seconds down. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) and Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) were left to fight it out for the final podium position, after their fellow podium challenger Michel Fabrizio (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) slipped out of the race with only three laps remaining. Foret was to take this coveted third place, by only 0.021 seconds, with Fujiwara fourth and Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Ducati) fifth. A knee injury for Foret, after a crash in the wet morning warm up, left his knee in a tender condition, affecting his early pace. World Supersport rookie Tatu Lauslehto (Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) took a confident ninth, only troubled by the high winds, which made the final two high-speed corners a real test of rider nerve with each passing lap. Qualifying has been something of a Honda whitewash, as Charpentier, Fabrizio and Foret led the order, with Charpentier setting the best lap of 1’35.746. Charpentier, who lost a huge lead in the first championship race in Qatar five weeks ago, was understandably relived and delighted to secure the top points score, and with it the championship lead. “I am especially happy with this win because of the disappointment from Qatar. I came here with a lot of confidence because we had a very good test at Valencia a couple of weeks ago. I had a very enjoyable race with Curtain but the main problem was the wind. It was blowing differently at every corner, changing lap by lap, but it was the same for everyone.” Foret, battling hard throughout and with the experience that his 2002 World Championship win brings, is now fourth in the title chase. “I crashed this morning in warm up and I had a problem with my knee, so at the start I was very worried about leaning into left corners, in case I banged it on the ground. So I closed the throttle a lot on these corners at the start! Afterwards, I got the measure of it and I am happy with this podium, because Qatar was not a good race for me. There is more work to do again to overtake Ten Kate but for now this is a good step.” For Fujiwara, fourth was hard won, and was good enough to keep him second overall, on 38 points. “I am obviously very disappointed to lose a podium finish for the width of tyre. That was very frustrating, but I am happy for Sebastien and the rest of the team. The wind made the bike very difficult to control but I had an amazing fight with Foret and Fabrizio, and I tried as hard as I could the whole way through.” Finnish rider Lauslehto was new to the demands of the magnificent Phillip Island circuit, only disliking the wind. “The track is very fast, with a great layout but the only problem was the wind. It was particularly bad in the last two corners. It would have been good if I could have caught Stephane Chambon in front of me but I did not want to push too hard in that wind.” Fabrizio, looking as likely as any of the other riders to take the last podium place, nonetheless increased his Supersport reputation once more. “I started very fast and I thought I would stay in the group with Foret and Fujiwara at the end, but a few laps from the finish I had a problem with front grip. It was never a problem during practice we did 25 laps with no problems – but today it arrived. The slow MG corner, where I slipped up, was the only one where I had to close the throttle completely. Around the others I could keep even 5% throttle, and that helped the front to stop pushing. Even then, I had to take very wide lines to take the pressure off the front.” World Superbike Round 2 of 12 Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda CBR1000RR) wrote his name large in the World Superbike skies over Phillip Island, running to a fourth and third in only his second ever Superbike race, swapping race finishes with Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) who was first third then fourth. 21-year-old German Neukirchner was revelation at such a difficult track, in only his second World Superbike race. Weather conditions played a menacing part in proceedings, with the high winds affecting all the riders in race one, while the rains returned midway through race two, making it an aggregate result of leg one and leg two. Each points scoring race delivered the same Suzuki 1-2 out front, Troy Corser heading up Yukio Kagayama, with Corser’s double giving him the championship lead, on 91 points. A wet start to the day meant that the 20-minute warm up sessions were run on rain tyres, but despite a few spots of water on the visors of the main protagonists the sun re-asserted its dominance on race one’s proceedings – just as it had done in qualifying and Superpole. The best placed Honda rider in Superpole proved to be rookie rider Neukirchner following up his second best qualifying performance in the regular sessions with an equally impressive third place in Superpole behind winner Yukio Kagayama and Petronas rider Steve Martin. In the first race of the day, Suzuki pairing Corser and Kagayama secured a 1-2 finish, with third place hotly contested in the final stages of the race. Chris Vermeulen secured third, after a hard and sometimes tactile battle with Neukirchner. Up to seven riders battled it out for the final podium place in the early stages, with Vermeulen and Neukirchner making best use of their tyres and machines to outpace eventual fifth place rider Andrew Pitt (Yamaha). In race two, the rains came after lap 12, and the contest was eventually completed after a wet race of 10 laps. In this battle against the elements Neukirchner was third on the road and third overall, a career best for rider and his Klaffi team. Raceday was a tough challenge for some other Honda riders, most of all Pierfrancesco Chili, who missed out on a start in either race, after falling in qualifying and breaking his left collarbone for the third time in five years. He is taking medical advice on his return to his native Italy, but may miss the next round at Valencia on April 24th. Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) had an eighth place in race one, and fell while contesting a corner with Ducati rider James Toseland in the dry section of race two, and could not complete the race. Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji CBR1000RR) was forced to retire in race one with a single lap to go, but finished race two 11th, enjoying the rain conditions on a machine which is still to reach its full race specification. Vermeulen remains fourth in the standings, with 50 points, while Neukirchner has jumped to fifth, on 37. Muggeridge holds 12th, on 15, just ahead of Chili, with 11. Bostrom’s five points for 11th put him 20th in the rankings. Neukirchner has been the find of the season so far, following up on his Rookie of the Year status in World Supersport 2004 with some astoundingly good rides in SBK already. “For my first time on a Superbike at Phillip Island, I’m really happy for the third and the fourth place. Many riders crashed in front of me, Walker, Haga – a lot of riders. I thought I should keep cool and relax, so taking third place was not so bad. It was good to be the first Honda in race two as well.” For Vermeulen, a return to home ground gave him his wished for podium. “I had a real battle with Max on another Honda towards the end of that first race. He was riding really well so well that I have a big black mark from his front tyre on my leathers! It’s just a pity that we had to start from the third row, and had to push so hard in the early stages. In race two it was really slippy out there, worse than in warm-up this morning. A third and fourth from ninth on the grid isn’t so bad.” Muggeridge had a less successful day than his team-mate Vermeulen. “I was having real problems getting the power to the ground in race one. In the second race I was battling with James Toseland and we got into a situation at Turn 10, where I just had nowhere to go. After my crash in warm-up this morning I wanted to have a couple of good results for the team, who have worked really hard.” Bostrom was forced to race with a less than full-spec race engine, and was most competitive in the wet leg of race two. “The bike is coming together but I have to get to grips with the tyres better. In the dry I wasn’t particularly special, we were only special in the wet. I haven’t been here for three years so I was pretty lost on Friday as well.” Chili, after breaking his collarbone and missing the races, was keen to get back to track action. “I will have to go home to have an operation and then they will be able to see how long the recovery will be. Just as I get to the stage of being able to have the plate removed, the bone breaks again.” Results SUPERSPORT: RACE : (Laps 21 = 93,345 Km) Pos /Rider /Nat. /Team / Time /Gap 1 / S. CHARPENTIER / FRA / Winston Ten Kate Honda / 34’28.920 / 2 / K. CURTAIN / AUS / Yamaha Motor Germany / 34’32.515 / 3.595 3 / F. FORET / FRA / Team Megabike / 34’38.561 / 9.641 4 / K. FUJIWARA / JPN / Winston Ten Kate Honda / 34’38.584 / 9.664 5 / J. VD GOORBERGH / NED / Ducati Selmat / 34’58.522 / 29.602 6 / J. STIGEFELT / SWE / Stiggy Motorsports / 35’03.088 / 34.168 7 / B. PARKES / AUS / Yamaha Motor Germany / 35’11.615 / 42.695 8 / S. CHAMBON / FRA / Gil Motor Sport / 35’15.280 / 46.360 9 / T. LAUSLEHTO / FIN / Klaffi Honda / 35’17.896 / 48.976 10 / C.COGAN / FRA / Moto 1 – Suzuki / 35’25.779 / 56.859 11 / J. FORES / ESP / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 35’49.276 / 1’20.356 12 / D. GARCIA / ESP / Lightspeed Kawasaki / 35’49.381 / 1’20.461 13 / T. MIKSOVSKY / CZE / Intermoto Czech Republic / 35’57.621 / 1’28.701 14 / P. SZKOPEK / POL / Intermoto Czech Republic / 34’46.990 / 1 Lap Fastest Lap 14° Sébastien Charpentier 1’37.438 164,228 Km/h Lap Record: 2003 Katsuaki Fujiwara 1’36.642 165,580Km/h Riders Championship Standings: 1 CHARPENTIER 45, 2 FUJIWARA 38, 3 CURTAIN 33, 4 FORET 27, 5 PARKES 19, 6 CHAMBON 17, 7 FABRIZIO 16, 8 FORES 13, 9 LAUSLEHTO 13, 10 VD GOORBERGH 11, 11 STIGEFELT 10, 12 NANNELLI 7, 13 MIKSOVSKY 7, 14 COGAN 6, 15 BERTA 5. SUPERBIKE Race 1: (Laps 22 = 97,790 Km) Pos /Rider /Nat. /Team / Time /Gap 1 / T. CORSER / AUS / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 35’15.199 / 2 / Y. KAGAYAMA / JPN / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 35’23.478 / 8.279 3 / C. VERMEULEN / AUS / Winston Ten Kate Honda / 35’27.750 / 12.551 4 / M.NEUKIRCHNER / GER / Klaffi Honda / 35’27.960 / 12.761 5 / A. PITT / AUS / Yamaha Motor Italia WSB / 35’28.403 / 13.204 6 / N. ABE / JPN / Yamaha Motor France-Ipone / 35’30.315 / 15.116 7 / R. LACONI / FRA / Ducati Xerox / 35’32.394 / 17.195 8 / K. MUGGERIDGE / AUS / Winston Ten Kate Honda / 35’49.020 / 33.821 9 / C.WALKER / GBR / PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse / 35’49.209 / 34.010 10 / G.BUSSEI / ITA / Kawasaki Bertocchi / 35’57.793 / 42.594 11 / S. GIMBERT / FRA / Yamaha Motor France-Ipone / 35’58.050 / 42.851 12 / M.SANCHINI / ITA / PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse / 35’59.755 / 44.556 13 / I. CLEMENTI / ITA / Kawasaki Bertocchi / 36’00.003 / 44.804 14 / J. TOSELAND / GBR / Ducati Xerox / 36’16.210 / 1’01.011 15 / A. STROUD / NZL / Superbike New Zealand / 36’47.355 / 1’32.156 Fastest Lap 2° Troy Corser 1’34.917 168,589 Km/h Race 2 : (Laps 22 = 97,790 Km) Combined Results Pos /Rider /Nat. /Team / Time / 1 / T. CORSER / AUS / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 37’34.183 / 2 / Y. KAGAYAMA / JPN / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 37’40.005 / 5.822 3 / M.NEUKIRCHNER / GER / Klaffi Honda / 37’45.080 / 10.897 4 / C. VERMEULEN / AUS / Winston Ten Kate Honda / 37’52.940 / 18.757 5 / F. NIETO / ESP / Ducati SC Caracchi / 38’27.272 / 53.089 6 / A. CORRADI / ITA / Team Pedercini / 38’28.310 / 54.127 7 / R. LACONI / FRA / Ducati Xerox / 38’32.259 / 58.076 8 / N. ABE / JPN / Yamaha Motor France-Ipone / 38’37.511 / 1’03.328 9 / G.BUSSEI / ITA / Kawasaki Bertocchi / 38’38.538 / 1’04.355 10 / M.SANCHINI / ITA / PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse / 38’42.937 / 1’08.754 11 / B. BOSTROM / USA / Renegade Koji / 38’48.630 / 1’14.447 12 / A. STROUD / NZL / Superbike New Zealand / 38’50.893 / 1’16.710 13 / L. LANZI / ITA / Ducati SC Caracchi / 38’54.187 / 1’20.004 14 / M.PRAIA / POR / DFXtreme Sterilgarda / 40’18.656 / 2’44.473 Fastest Lap 6° Troy Corser 1’34.979 168,479 Km/h Lap Record: 1999 Troy Corser 1’33.019 172,030 Km/h Riders Championship Standings: 1 CORSER 91, 2 KAGAYAMA 85, 3 LACONI 54, 4 VERMEULEN 50, 5 NEUKIRCHNER 37, 6 ABE 33, 7 PITT 31, 8 TOSELAND 22, 9 BUSSEI 20, 10 NIETO 17, 11 HAGA 16, 12 MUGGERIDGE 15, 13 CHILI 11, 14 GIMBERT 11, 15 SANCHINI 11 More, from a press release issued by Pirelli: FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1 PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA 3rd April 2005 Race Report 3rd April 2005 Phillip Island (Australia) High winds, and rains which came and went, were a feature of raceday at Phillip Island, a particular problem given that all previous testing and qualifying had been held in warm and dry conditions, with the wind a constant yet predictable companion. Six thousand Pirelli tyres were transported to the Australian circuit, with Superbike and Supersport classes each supplied with the latest Pirelli products. The second Superbike race of the day was affected by rain and was halted and re-started, while the Supersport race was delayed due to the high winds, which had knocked down two TV towers, plus other paddock equipment. Race 1 TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 64% TRACK TEMPERATURE 24° C AIR TEMPERATURE 33° C The first race went to the red-hot pre-race favourite, Troy Corser, who held off his team-mate Yukio Kagayama for his second win of the season. Kagayama, running his Suzuki well clear of the battle for third, was once more a true force in his rookie World Superbike season. The battle for third, which went to Chris Vermeulen, over Max Neukirchner, was so close that each rider touched on the last couple of laps, with Vermeulen’s defence only just adequate in the final run to the flag. Andrew Pitt had been third for long periods, but dropped back to a battling fifth. All riders chose the same spec rear, but only Corser used the softest possible front tyre. Race Standings: Rider Bike Team Race time 1 Corser Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki 35’15.199 2 Kagayama Suzuki GXR Alstare Suzuki +8.279 3 Vermeulen Honda CBR1000RR Winstone Ten Kate +12.551 4 Neukirchner Honda CBR1000RR Klaffi Honda +12.761 5 Pitt Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia +13.204 Race 2 TRACK CONDITION Dry-Wet AIR HUMIDITY 63% TRACK TEMPERATURE 31° C AIR TEMPERATURE 20° C The second 22-lap race on the Superbike card was halted after 12 laps, with a 10-lap restart carried out in wet, but drying track conditions. Corser won this contest once more, being fast in both wet and dry conditions. Kagayama benefited from the crash suffered by Regis Laconi’s Ducati, although he restarted to finish seventh for the second time. Pirelli Racing Manager Giorgio Barbier, stated, “What we missed this weekend were the results we got in the January Yamaha and Suzuki tests, in terms of the lap time at least. Same with Petronas last weekend. In January we had Troy doing a long run with 1’33 high and 1’34 low laptimes. Even with Petronas we got 1’34 lows. This weekend we never saw this except with the qualifying tyres. We are disappointed with this and we cannot explain it. Apart from the wind direction changing from Friday and Saturday. So, I am not happy with the grip and performance, of the rear tyres especially. The wind was at such a level today that we could have stopped the race, and it was hard for the riders to keep the correct lines. The rains brought a lot of dust onto the track as well. None of this helps the grip on the racetrack. In race two all the riders used the softest wets, and they finished the tyre by the end of the race. Kagayama told us that he understood now why Haslam won in BSB at Brands last year, because even when it is worn you can play and use it and keep the lap time. So we were pleased with that. All the riders used an A rear slick, while only two used the softest front, and one of them won the race. Mostly they used the hardest and two them got onto the podium. I think the weather did not allow the riders to find a set-up where they could use one tyre only, which they normally do. It was great to see such a young rookie SBK rider like Neukirchner taking a podium. It shows that you don’t need just one type of Honda to get good results, and that is very good for the championship.” Standings: Rider Bike Team Race time 1 Corser Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki 37’34.183 2 Kagayama Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki +5.288 3 Neukirchner Honda CBR 1000 RR Klaffi Honda +10.897 4 Vermeulen Honda CBR 1000 RR Winston Ten Kate +18.757 5 Laconi Ducati 999 F05 Ducati Xerox +53.089 World Championship Standings: Rider Bike Team Points 1 Corser Suzuki GXR Alstare Suzuki 91 2 Kagayama Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki 85 3 Laconi Ducati 999 F05 Ducati Xerox 54 4 Vermeulen Honda CBR 1000 RR Winston Ten Kate 50 5 Neukirchner Honda CBR 1000 RR Klaffi Honda 37 6 Abe Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor France 33 7 Pitt Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia 31 8 Toseland Ducati 999 F05 Ducati Xerox 22 9 Bussei Kawasaki ZX10 Kawasaki Bertocchi 20 10 Nieto Ducati 999 RS Ducati SC Caracchi 17 Supersport TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 70% TRACK TEMPERATURE 31° C AIR TEMPERATURE 20° C After losing a commanding lead at the previous round in Qatar Sebastien Charpentier had to fight for his win again, this time succeeding in his quest with his Honda. He chose a hard front tyre and had experienced Yamaha runner Kevin Curtain for close company for most of the race. Fabien Foret scored an excellent podium, having hurt his knee in a pre-race fall. Pirelli Racing Manager, Giorgio Barbier, stated, “All the riders in Supersport had more settled weather conditions, and a dry track, so they all seemed to use the same front, except Charpentier, who used a harder front after his experiences in Qatar. And this was the best solution” Race Standings: Rider Bike Team Race time 1 Charpentier Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate 34’28.920 2 Curtain Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Germany 3.595 3 Foret Honda CBR 600 RR Team Megabike 9.641 4 Fujiwara Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate 9.664 5 VD Goorberg Ducati 749R Ducati Selmat 29.602 World Championship Standings: Rider Bike Team Points 1 Charpentier Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate 45 2 Fujiwara Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate 38 3 Curtain Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Germany 33 4 Foret Honda CBR 600 RR Team Megabike 27 5 Parkes Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Germany 19 6 Chambon Honda CBR 600 RR Gil Motor Sport 17 7 Fabrizio Honda CBR 600 RR Team Italia Megabike 16 8 Fores Suzuki GSX 600 R Alstare Suzuki Corona 13 9 Lauslehto Honda CBR 600 RR Klaffi Honda 13 10 VD Goorberg Ducati 749R Ducati Selmat 11

2005 World Supersport championship, round two Phillip Island, Australia Sunday, 3 April 2005 CHARPENTIER TAKES AUSTRALIAN WIN, FUJIWARA JUST MISSES PODIUM Sébastien Charpentier took victory in today’s World Supersport championship second round race at Phillip Island in Australia, crossing the line 3.5 seconds ahead of local rider, Kevin Curtain. His Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Katsuaki Fujiwara, finished in fourth place, just fifteen hundredths of a second behind Honda-mounted third placed man, Fabien Foret. It was Charpentier’s second win in world championship supersport racing his first coming seven years ago at Nurburgring in Germany and gives the Frenchman the championship lead after his second place at the opening round in Qatar. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “It was a fantastic race to watch and I’m so happy for Sébastien after being so close to winning here last year. He has been consistently fast since we first started testing and thoroughly deserves this victory. Kats was so close to getting on the podium, which would have been the perfect way to follow-up his win in Qatar. This is the ninth consecutive win for the team and, overall, I’m really pleased to be heading back to racing in Europe with first and second place in the championship.” Sébastien Charpentier first “It’s been a long time since my last win but I am very happy, especially after the mystery with the front that we had in Qatar. I love Phillip Island and its fast corners, and I was very confident coming here after the successful test we had at Valencia. I had a great race with Kevin Curtain but the wind was very difficult for all of us because it would change strength from lap to lap. The team has been great and we made a really good tyre choice today with a hard front and a medium rear it was the perfect combination.” Katsuaki Fujiwara fourth “It is very disappointing to miss third place by the width of a tyre but I am happy for Sébastien and the rest of the team. The wind was so strong today and it made the bike very difficult to control. I had an amazing battle for third with Fabien Foret and Michel Fabrizio on other Hondas and I tried as hard as I could the whole way through. I’m still learning with the CBR but the team is helping me all the time.” World Supersport, Phillip Island results (21 laps, 93.345kms): 1 Sébastien Charpentier FRA (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 34m28.920s, 2 Kevin Curtain AUS (Yamaha) +3.595s, 3 Fabien Foret FRA (Honda) +9.641s, 4 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN (Winston Ten Kate Honda) +9.664, 5 Jurgen vd Goorbergh NED (Ducati) +29.602, 6 Johan Stigefelt SWE (Honda) +34.168, 7 Broc Parkes AUS (Yamaha) +42.695, 8 Stephane Chambon FRA (Honda) +46.360, 9 Tauto Lauslehto FIN (Honda) +48.976, 10 Christophe Cogan FRA (Suzuki) +56.859. Championship points after two of 12 rounds: Charpentier 45, Fujiwara 38, Curtain 33, Foret 27, Parkes 19, Chambon 17, Michel Fabrizio ITA (Honda) 16, Javier Fores ESP (Suzuki) 13, Lauslehto 13, vd Goorbergh 11. Next round: Valencia, Spain 24 April

2005 World Superbike championship, round two Phillip Island, Australia Race one Sunday, 3 April 2005 VERMEULEN ON PHILLIP ISLAND PODIUM Winston Ten Kate Honda’s Chris Vermeulen finished in third place in today’s opening second-round World Superbike encounter at a breezy Phillip Island in Australia. After rain during warm-up this morning, the track was dried by a strong wind, allowing Troy Corser to take his second win of the campaign. Starting from sixth place on the grid, Vermeulen’s team-mate, Karl Muggeridge, finished the 22-lap race in eighth place after briefly climbing to fourth position on lap seven. The Australian had recovered after a high-speed crash in warm-up. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “That was a good effort from Karl to bring the bike home for some more points after his crash in warm-up this morning. Of course, I am delighted for Chris achieving our first podium of the season. It’s just a pity that he had to start from the third row and push so hard early on, otherwise I think he could have been challenging a little earlier. We’ll sit down and study the data now to see if we need to make any changes for race two but, for sure, we have to look at getting a little more drive.” Chris Vermeulen third “I had a real battle with Max Neukirchner on another Honda towards the end of that race. He was going for it and riding really well so well that I have a big black mark from his front tyre on my leathers! It’s a shame that I had to push so hard in the early stages because I was struggling with front end grip towards the race. But I was in a good rhythm and the bike felt good so I managed to hold on for the podium, which is the important thing.” Karl Muggeridge eighth “I didn’t feel so bad after the crash this morning but I got knocked about a bit and I’ve definitely felt better. The bike definitely didn’t feel as good this morning as it did during Superpole yesterday and warm-up didn’t help because it was wet anyway. I was having real problems getting the power to the ground so hopefully we can make some changes for race two to get that sorted a little better.” World Superbike, Phillip Island race one results (22 laps, 97.79kms): 1 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki) 35m15.199s, 2 Yukio Kagayama JPN (Suzuki) +8.279s, 3 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) +12.551, 4 Max Neukirchner GER (Honda) +12.761, 5 Andrew Pitt AUS (Yamaha) +13.204, 6 Norick Abe JPN (Yamaha) +15.116, 7 Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati) +17.195, 8 Karl Muggeridge AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) +33.821, 9 Chris Walker GBR (Kawasaki) +34.010, 10 Giovanni Bussei ITA (Kawasaki) +42.594. World Superbike points after race one: Corser 66, Kagayam 65, Laconi 45, Vermeulen 37, Pitt 31, Abe 25, Neukirchner 21, James Toseland GBR (Ducati) 21, Noriyuki Haga JPN (Yamaha) 16, Muggeridge 15.

WSMC racer Ruben Munoz Jr. remains in police custody and is being held at the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange, California on felony charges involving vehicle theft, receiving known stolen property, possession of controlled substances, owning and operating a chop shop and on misdemeanor charges involving violation of a restraining order. Munoz was arraigned Friday, April 1 and bail is set at $110,000. He was arrested March 29 by the Anaheim, California Police Department. Munoz, who lists his home town on race entry sheets as Garden Grove, California, races as WSMC #714. In 2004, he competed in the AMA Formula Xtreme National at Infineon Raceway as #774 on a Suzuki GSX-R600, and listed his sponsors as Mototecnica East LA, Motorex, LPS and Z Leathers. One of the bikes involved in the charges against Munoz was stolen one night during a WSMC race weekend at Willow Springs International Raceway about a year ago; it was parked on stands outside owner Calvin Beck’s motorhome as he slept inside. A WSMC racer who owns a GSX-R told Roadracingworld.com that Munoz approached him recently and offered parts from a GSX-R that he (Munoz) said he was parting out. Another racer posted on the Unofficial WSMC BBS that he had gone to Munoz’s home to purchase parts, and that the attic contained dismantled machines. Related postings on the Unofficial WSMC BBS can be seen at ~http://www.ducatitech.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=2309~ The investigation is continuing and additional persons may be involved, according to a spokesman from the Anaheim, California Police Department. Persons with information regarding the case should contact Detective Dave Herman at (714) 765-1821. More information will be posted at it becomes available. See related April 1 post: WSMC Racer Charged In Motorcycle Thefts ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=22381~

FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Thanks for posting the info about our crash and the race cancellation. Here’s the latest for your inquiring mind. The good news is we are home. Sheri’s knee is sore where they did the surgery and other than puttering around like she shouldn’t be, she seems to be feeling pretty good. I guess it will take a little longer for me. According to the doctor my back was broken (compressed fractures) in two for sure and possibly three places in the lower to mid spine area. I know one thing, it hurts like hell and it’s really colorful (black, purple, yellow, etc.). I have 6-7 fractured ribs and severe bruising to my lungs which makes it kind of hard to breathe. But between a COLD BUDWEISER and the Vicodin, it’s starting feel a little better. As to what actually happened, there are a couple of senarios but everything happened so fast we will probably never really know. Al Lyons Lake Elsinore, California See related March 27 post: CMRRA Boss Al Lyons Hospitalized After Street Crash, April 3 Race Cancelled

Reacting to reader complaints, we sent this message to FGSport, promoters of the World Superbike Series: Can FGSport Group explain why the World Superbike Championship series is televised live on “89 television networks covering 170 countries” but it is not shown live in the United States, the single largest motorcycle sales market in the world? Our readers are very excited by the 2005 World Superbike Championship and are quite upset about the fact that SPEED Channel has/will shown/show the first two rounds of the 2005 World Superbike series on the Tuesday following the actual races. This is the response we got: FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Unfortunately this is a choice of Speed Channel. They take all the races live on satellite and then because of the time difference (expecially for the European races) they prefer to delay the races, unfortunately until Tuesday local lunch time usually. Only you in the USA can push with Speed Channel for a better coverage, we give the feed LIVE to them. Best regards, Daniele Sanò TV and Marketing Dept. FGSPORT Rome, Italy And now, some reader feedback: FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Thanks for trying to push the series promoters to do something to move their coverage from NASCRAP TV, oops, sorry…SpeedTV…to a network that might actually provide coverage, and *AIRING* to a series that is far superior to TURNLEFT TV. Although, I was surprised to see the response given by the promoters of World Superbike. Apparently, it is up to the US to write to TURNLEFT TV and get the races shown live? Wait just one Nashville second here…. Don’t you – WSBK – own the rights to your series?? Didn’t you sell the rights to air World Superbike in the US to REDNECK….sorry….TURNLEFT….sorry…SpeedTV? Can’t you put a little pressure on the intellectually challenged ones that run TURNLEFT TV to at least show the races on the same day, if not live? There is only so much rhetoric we can stomach from the inbred wonders that are running the channel that shows motorcycle racing before we just tune out. How about if the promoters of “World” Superbike racing put a little pressure on the brain dead executives at TURNLEFT…er…SpeedTV to show the races on the same day. Or, better yet pull the series, bite the bullet and take less money to show it on a network that WILL show it on the same day, and which might *gasp* show it in reruns during the following week. I mean, supposedly, the WSBK series is all for breaking new ground in how it competes. How about jumping out on the limb and breaking new ground on how it markets itself in the US. We, as motorcycle racing fans, have been fighting a losing battle in the US for the past two years (since NASCRAP took over SPEEDTV) to get our races shown on the network that owns the rights, and that network has been living up to its inbred nature by denying us, more and more, the ability to see real brain power racing. So, my plea is to you WSBK, you step up to the plate, pull your rights, and show real racing on a network that will show WSBK, on the same day, and maybe even a couple times in the next week in repeat. Once upon a time, TURNLEFT racing was nothing in the US. But they marketed themselves well, and gained a fan base. Which most likely meant taking some sort of loss for the payoff in the end. It is really hard for you to market yourself in the largest market in the world, when you are not being shown until two days later. Bite the bullet, give your series to another network, at a loss even, and see if you can grow revenue to the point where it pays off. The way your series is being shown here now, it is no better than badminton, or retiree bingo. And it is so much better than that, and deserves so much better than that. You have shown that you are not averse to taking risks, well try another. 300 million potential fans are waiting for something better than TURNLEFT TV. Start another cool trend in the US. Show real racing! Steve Sturm WSMC #98 Glendora, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: For what it’s worth, I have complained several times to SpeedTV about their motorcycle road racing programming. Even “Two Wheel Tuesday” has become lame – who wants to see some mediocre sports car racer ride a chopper sans helmet? I can’t even watch Two Wheel Tuesday any more without fast forwarding the TIVO through all the fluff. What can we as U.S. road racing fans do to persuade SpeedTV that not everyone eats/sleeps/drinks NASCAR 24/7? Thank God for your magazine! Michael Ludes Sacramento, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Unfortunately, SPEED aka NASCARvision, gives the impression that the 2 wheel market needs to take a backseat to NASCAR. They’d rather show “NASCAR this morning”, NASCAR edition Speed News”, and “NASCAR Victory Lane” on a daily basis rather than broadcast WSBK the same day. Of course, when they do decide to show WSBK it’s right in the middle of the day when most people are at work. We may not make up the same demographics as NASCAR, but I think the consistently repeated NASCAR news could take a back seat for 1-2 hours on Sundays when motorcycle roadracing is live. However, I have found that sending e-mails to SPEED regarding our racing has proved futile. They simply do not care. Amazing how when I lived in England last year, I could watch every AMA event live and without commercial interuption. Ever wanted to see WSBK and MotoGP Superpole? Yeah, that’s broadcast live too. But you won’t hear about that through SPEED. Lloyd Magruder WSMC #716/USGPRU #716/AFM #862 Lemoore, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Although SPEED has cut down its coverage of motorcycle racing in the past two years. I do not put any blame on them for not backing WSBK with live or same day coverage. Last year WSBK lost alot of fans with the changes they made to the rules. I am pretty sure SPEED locks in their schedule months before the racing season starts and probably could not risk having another Ducati cup. When motorcycle road racing decides to get their act together and some longevity in the rules then I am pretty sure it will make its way back into our living rooms on sunday. Carmen R. Centennial Fort Knox, Kentucky

FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Re: a BIG mistake in : ~http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=22373~ Dear Sirs, I am writing to you regarding this page : ~http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=22373~ According to all historical, geographical and international documents, such as United Nation’s directives, the body of water between Iran and Arabian Peninsula is only called “Persian Gulf”. For more information, please visit: ~http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/qatar.pdf~ ~http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/iraq.pdf~ ~http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/mideastr.pdf~ ~http://www.persiangulfonline.org/maps.htm~ Note that we (Persians) never try to change “Gulf of Oman” to “Gulf of Iran” though Iran has most of its shores, and we always call it “Oman Sea” . Or we never say “Persian Sea” instead of the “Arabian Sea” . We respect the historical and internationally recognized names of the places. Let me remind you that “Arabian Gulf” is the ancient name of “Red Sea”: ~http://www.jpmaps.co.uk/images/24552.jpg~ I am kindly asking you to use its real name, please. Thanking you in anticipation. Regards, Reza Zakeri Tehran, Iran FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Dear Sir/Madam, I noted that you have used the wrong term of “Arabian Gulf” instead of the historical and internationally recognized term of the Persian Gulf in your Web site; ~http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=22373~ I would like to point out that according to all historical/geographical documents, also United Nations’ directives, the name of this waterway which separates Iran (Persia) from Arabian Peninsula is the PERSIAN GULF : UN Links : ~http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/westasia.pdf~ ~http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/iran.pdf~ ~http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/maplib/docs/escwa.pdf~ PERSIAN GULF is also the only term used by the U.S. Department of State: ~http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/c2422.htm~ or ~http://www.state.gov/p/nea/ci/c2404.htm~ Same to the National Geographic Society ; World Map : ~http://mapmachine.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/viewandcustomize.html?task=getMap&themeId=p2~ Asia Map : ~http://mapmachine.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/viewandcustomize.html?task=getMap&themeId=p71&size=s&topten=100,p100,p3,p4,p5,p501565,p501719,p70,p71,p93&iplace=&sext=-180.0,-90.0,180.0,90.0&iext=-180.0,-90.0,180.0,90.0~ You can visit this page for some maps & documents and see even Arab scholars until 1960s used “Al-Khalij Al-Farsi” (Arabic name of the “Persian Gulf”); ~http://www.persiangulfonline.org/maps.htm~ “Arabian Gulf” in fact is the ancient name of the present-day “Red Sea” (located between Arabia and Africa). Please imagine that all nations start to rename the historical and legal names of seas and oceans: African people try to change the name of Indian Ocean to African Ocean, American people rename Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America or Pakistani people try to use Pakistani Sea instead of the Arabian Sea !…. Also please be aware that Persian (Iranian) people never tried to use “Gulf of Iran”/”Gulf of Persia” instead of “Gulf of Oman” and never tried to change the name of “Arabian Sea” into “Persian Sea”. May I ask you to kindly use the proper term in that article? Thanks so much for your attention. Sincerely, Pejman Akbarzadeh Member of “ARTISTS WITHOUT FRONTIERS” (Tehran Chapter) ~http://artistswithoutfrontiers.com/pakbarzadeh/index.html~ Tehran, Iran And now, our official response to the above Persian complaints: The item you are complaining about is a press release (aka propaganda) issued by a racing team, it is labeled a press release, and we do not edit or “correct” press releases. If you have an issue with their geographical terminology, contact them. See related March 31 post: Ten Kate Team Manager, Fujiwara Take Love Of Fishing To Phillip Island ~https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=22373~

SECOND ROW FOR MUGGERIDGE IN AUSTRALIA Karl Muggeridge will start tomorrow’s second round races of the 2005 World Superbike championship from the second row of the grid after setting the sixth fastest time in his first ever Superpole event this afternoon. Superpole allows one flying lap to the 16 fastest riders from qualifying to establish final grid positions. With Japanese rider, Yukio Kagayama, setting the fastest time, Muggeridge’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Chris Vermeulen, was ninth fastest and will start the two 22-lap races at the 4.4km Phillip Island circuit from the front of row three. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “Superpole is always an event in itself and I was very pleased with the way Karl handled his first, after a wet session at the first round in Qatar. He managed to improve his qualifying time by 0.8s and move up to the second row. We are a little surprised by Chris’s performance after he had been running so well earlier and qualified for Superpole in fourth place. But we’ll now concentrate on tomorrow’s two races for which I believe we have solved the puzzle of setting up the bike here. We’ll confirm a couple of things in warm-up tomorrow morning and I’m confident we can be up at the front in the races. Karl Muggeridge sixth fastest, 1m33.557s “I was pretty pleased with that Superpole lap because it’s always nice to get the track to yourself with a grippy qualifier. Having said that, I’m not sure I got the most out of it and may have gone into turn one a little cautious. I just tried to be smooth all the way round and it felt nice especially knocking that much off my qualifying time. The team’s been working really hard all weekend to get the front working properly and, after yesterday’s two options, I think we’ve found a good set-up for the race. I’ve said from the start that as long as we’re making steady improvements for Sunday, the results will come. We’ve made the improvements here so we’ll just have to go for the results tomorrow. Chris Vermeulen ninth fastest, 1m34.053s “It was strange because I was really struggling for grip out there in Superpole and I went almost as fast on a race tyre during earlier practice. It felt pretty smooth all the way round but I just wasn’t able to open the throttle properly. After the times I’d been doing earlier, I was pretty confident of being able to do a low 31s lap but hey, that’s Superpole for you. I know it makes good TV but I’m not a huge fan really; you can sometimes lose a little but other times lose a lot. I’ve got a good race set-up though and I’m confident of being able to run at the front at race pace I’ll just have to get a couple of good starts from where I am. World Superbike, Phillip Island final qualifying times: 1 Yukio Kagayama JPN (Suzuki) 1m33.241s, 2 Steve Martin AUS (Petronas) 1:33.301, 3 Max Neukirchner GER (Honda) 1:33.375, 4 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki) 1:33.398, 5 Andrew Pitt AUS (Yamaha) 1:33.461, 6 Karl Muggeridge AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:33.557, 7 Garry McCoy AUS (Petronas) 1:33.676, 8 Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati) 1:33.837, 9 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:34.053, 10 James Toseland GBR (Ducati) 1:34.068. CHARPENTIER MAINTAINS TEN KATE FORM Sébastien Charpentier will start tomorrow’s World Supersport championship second round race from pole position after setting the fastest time in today’s second qualifying session. After heading the practice and qualifying time sheets all weekend, it is the Frenchman’s second consecutive pole start in the series and the Ten Kate team’s ninth. In sunny but windy conditions, Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Katsuaki Fujiwara, was fifth fastest today; the first round winner and championship leader will start tomorrow’s 21-lap race at the 4.4km Phillip Island circuit in Australia from the head of the second row. Ronald ten Kate team manager: “Once again, Sébastien has dominated practice and qualifying, just like in the first round in Qatar; but I have to say it is never boring to see him there all the time! We did a long run with him this afternoon, over more than half race distance, and there were no problems. He was looking like going even faster on his last lap but it’s always difficult to switch back to doing one quick lap. Katsuaki is still looking for the perfect set-up here but I think it’s always a question of compromising, especially with today’s strong wind. But I have no doubts that he’ll be absolutely fine in race conditions tomorrow.” Sébastien Charpentier pole position, 1m35.746s “The wind is very strange here today it can be very strong on one lap and then not so strong the next. It makes it very difficult, especially the left hander in turn two and then up the back of the circuit. But I was very happy doing consistent low 37s laps over half race distance and the front was just perfect. I don’t think I’ll have the problems that we found in Qatar. I was trying to go even faster on the last lap and I was up in the first two splits but then a slower rider finished the lap for me. It’s no matter though, I’m on pole again and looking forward to tomorrow.” Katsuaki Fujiwara fifth fastest, 1m36.524s “I have been trying my best all weekend to get the bike perfect all the way round the Phillip Island circuit but in the end we’re still not getting it to turn as well as I would like in the high-speed corners. But, I have a very good race set-up and, although I will be starting directly behind Sébastien, I really want another win here and I am confident for tomorrow’s race. After the problem I had on the start line in Qatar, I have practiced my start and I hope for no problem. I want to win the race from the front this time, not the back.” Phillip Island final qualifying times: 1 Sébastien Charpentier FRA (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1m35.746s, 2 Michel Fabrizio ITA (Honda) 1:35.903, 3 Fabien Foret FRA (Honda) 1:36.230, 4 Kevin Curtain AUS (Yamaha) 1:36.436, 5 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:36.524, 6 Stephane Chambon FRA (Honda) 1:36.819, 7 Gianluca Nannelli ITA (Ducati) 1:37.388, 8 Johan Stigefelt SWE (Honda) 1:37.657, 9 Jurgen vd Goorbergh NED (Ducati) 1:37.820, 10 Javier Fores ESP (Suzuki) 1:37.915. More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: LACONI AND TOSELAND ON ROWS 2 AND 3 FOR DUCATI XEROX TEAM AS SUPERPOLE PACE HOTS UP LACONI IMPROVES ON TOP SPEED RECORD WITH 318 KM/H! Phillip Island (Australia), Saturday 2 April: Régis Laconi and James Toseland (Ducati Xerox Team) will start tomorrow’s Australian Round of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island from rows 2 and 3 of the grid respectively as a highly-competitive Superpole qualifying session produced a few surprises. Neither the Frenchman, seventh after the two qualifying sessions, nor his British team-mate, five places lower, were able to make much of a surge up the grid in the one-lap dash despite both shaving vital tenths from their times and they ended up eighth and tenth. Both riders are confident with their race set-up however and are convinced that the two 22-lap races will see a different outcome. “I didn’t do a good lap in Superpole, it wasn’t that bad because we got under the 1m34s mark but we were missing a bit everywhere” declared Laconi. “I’m on row 2 and I absolutely have to get a good start otherwise the others will get away. We are all more or less there, no one rider has that much of an advantage. Superpole is becoming more competitive race after race, it’s only a question of tenths, but remember that’s only in qualifying, the race is another thing”. After setting the top speed record of 316 km/h yesterday, Laconi went even quicker today, ending up at 318 km/h, an extraordinary performance from the twin-cylinder Testastretta-engine Ducati 999 that was achieved with the contribution of the special fuels and lubricants developed for the Factory ’05 machine by technical partner Shell. “Yesterday we were already quick at 316 km/h and today we went even faster. If we go any quicker tomorrow, at this rate we’ll be approaching the speed of the MotoGP bikes!” added Laconi. Toseland was clearly disappointed with his row 3 starting position, but is confident that his good race set-up will enable him to be up at the front tomorrow. “I don’t know what happened there with everyone in the 33s, I thought my 34 flat in the free practice would have put me second or third and I’m tenth on the grid” he declared. “I’m not happy, I really stuck my neck out even to do a 34 flat so we’ve got a bit more work to do on the bike. It’s going to be difficult from the third row of the grid, but we’ve been very consistent on race tyres and hopefully we can get into the low 34s to be there or thereabouts, but the main problem is if the leaders get away. It’s going to be a real endurance test tomorrow, the tyres will be a problem after half distance and whoever keeps it together will bring it home. It’s going to come round to grip in the end and who’s got the best race set-up and that’s what I’ve been concentrating on all weekend”. TIMES: 1. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m33.241s; 2. Martin (Petronas) 1m33.301s; 3. Neukirchner (Honda) 1m33.375s; 4. Corser (Suzuki) 1m33.398s; 5. Pitt (Yamaha) 1m33.461s; 6. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m33.557s; 7. McCoy (Petronas) 1m33.676s; 8. Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 1m33.837s; 9. Vermeulen (Honda) 1m34.053s; 10. Toseland (Ducati Xerox) 1m34.068s; etc. More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group: CLIFF HANGER AS KAGAYAMA WINS SUPERPOLE AT PHILLIP ISLAND A Close Run Thing: In warm and balmy conditions the pace in Superpole proved to be frequently faster than that set in regulation qualifying. The eventual winner of the single fast lap Superpole competition, to determine the final grid positions for the top 16 qualifiers, was Japanese rider Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra). Only fifth last away, having been fifth fastest after regular qualifying, Kagayama had to wait for the best four regulation qualifiers to set their Superpole laps before he could be declared Superpole winner. It was his first such success, for a rider in his first full season of SBK competition, and came thanks to a time of 1:33.241 over half a second faster than his best time from previous sessions. Front Row Now Fixed: The remarkable Superpole contest delivered two major surprises and two minor ones. The first small surprise was that Troy Corser, Kagayama’s team-mate, did not capitalise on his qualifying pace. Corser had proved to be fastest man after both timed sessions but was beaten into fourth place on the grid after Superpole. The second small surprise was that SBK rookie Max Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda) took a superb third place, delivering on his good final qualifying pace – despite his lack of SBK, Superpole and Phillip Island experience. A major surprise was the performance of the Petronas triple, in the hands of Steve Martin. The rider may be an expert in the particular discipline needed for Superpole success, but with a largely outgunned machine under him, thanks to its 900cc engine capacity, Martin transcended all to go second fastest. The second major upset was that neither of the factory Ducati Xerox machines managed to get onto the front row, and indeed both Petronas machines were ahead of the Ducati pairing of eighth placed Regis Laconi and tenth finisher, James Toseland. Second Row Quartet: Yamaha’s rider line up in Superpole was headed by Andrew Pitt, who recovered from a serious collision with his own machine, after a huge highside exiting MG corner, He finished fifth fastest and heads the second row. Karl Muggeridge was the fastest Winston Ten Kate Honda pilot, sixth, while the joy for Petronas continued thanks to Garry McCoy, the diminutive Aussie screaming his triple to a seventh place, ousting Laconi by just over 0.15 seconds. Third Rank: Chris Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) made a couple of small but significant errors in his Superpole lap, and thus starts the two SBK races on Sunday from row three, just ahead of tenth place Superpole qualifier James Toseland. Toseland’s race tyre lap speed is comparable with most of the best riders on display, and thus two good starts for the 2004 champion should see him and his team-mate Laconi stay in contention for what should be two exceptionally close races. Giovanni Bussei had the pleasure of being top Kawasaki rider, taking his Bertocchi machine to 11th, and thus keeping Norick Abe’s Yamaha Motor France R1 in 12th place. Superpole Wrap Up: Chris Walker (Kawasaki PSG-1) leads off the fourth row of the grid, one ahead of impressive SBK rookie Gianluca Vizziello (Team Lorenzini by Leoni), the Italian pilot showing the pace that made him the runner up in the European Superstock series in 2004. Jose Luis Cardoso (Yamaha DFX Extreme Sterilgarda), and Mauro Sanchini (Kawasaki PSG-1), completed the Superpole contest 15th and 16th respectively. Chili Out Injured: Pierfrancesco Chili (Klaffi Honda) had a painful end to his qualifying push, breaking his left collarbone for the third time in his career, ruling himself out for the Aussie race and probably the next round at Valencia. Chasing his team-mate Neukirchner, and having just passed a slower rider, he fell at the fast turn three, after clipping the inside of the kerb. Another experienced rider, Noriyuki Haga, was well out of sorts in Phillip Island, only finishing 19th on his Yamaha Motor Italia R1. Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji), still not in possession of fully competitive equipment, was 23rd fastest, one place behind Spanish Superstar Fonsi Nieto, riding an SC Ducati 999RS. Lorenzo Lanzi, Nieto’s team-mate, was a disappointed 27th of the 29 riders on show. Supersport: For the second race in succession Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) secured pole position, forming the head of a three-rider row of Honda pilots. Team Italia Megabike runners Michel Fabrizio and Fabien Foret ran out second and third respectively, but the top Yamaha rider on display was Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany). Katsuaki Fujiwara (Winston Ten Kate Honda) will start Sunday’s Supersport race from the first grid position on the second row, after setting a lap time some 0.8 seconds removed from the pole man. Stephane Chambon was sixth fastest on his Gil Motorsports Honda, with the best Ducati the SC machine of Gianluca Nannelli, despite the Italian charger suffering a late session fall. Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) slotted into tenth but is not certain to start the race on Sunday, after taking a battering in a high-speed crash. Suffering from compressed vertebrae after tumbling end-over-end, Parkes will make a decision on his inclusion on Sunday morning. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha Motor Italia rider Andrew Pitt will start tomorrow’s Yamaha-sponsored Australian round of the Superbike World Championship from fifth place after an impressive performance in his first ever one-lap superpole run. The local hero had been consistently in the top five all weekend but had to survive a scare during the pre-superpole practice session. The Australian was heading the time sheets when he highsided on the exit of turn 10 and was struck by his machine. Pitt was thankfully uninjured in the incident and was able to resume the session on his second machine. Pitt went into the superpole session as the third fastest rider from regular qualifying, but despite setting his fastest time of the weekend, a 1’33.461, on his flying lap the Australian found himself slipping back to fifth despite setting his fastest lap of the weekend. Norick Abe was another Yamaha rider who impressed in his first outing in the one-lap shootout. The Japanese rider gained four places on his position after regular qualifying and will start the race from 12th place and the third row of the grid. Pitt’s team-mate Noriyuki Haga was 19th fastest in qualifying, and did make the cut for the top-16 superpole shootout after failing to find a good suspension setting during the morning qualifying session. However Haga was able to set the 14th fastest time in the untimed afternoon practice session, giving hope of an improved performance in tomorrow’s races. Lining up behind Haga in 20th and 21st places respectively are European superstock champion Lorenzo Alfonsi, making his world superbike debut with the DFX Yamaha team, and Yamaha Motor France’s Sebastien Gimbert, although all three riders are likely to move up one place as 17th qualifier Pierfrancesco Chili (Honda) will not start after breaking his collarbone. Championship leader Yuki Kagayama (Suzuki) will start tomorrow’s races from pole position after setting a superpole time of 1’33.241, narrowly pushing out local ace Steve Martin (Petronas) and young German talent Max Neukirchner (Honda). Another Australian, Troy Corser (Suzuki), rounds out the front row in fourth. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “I’d have liked to have been on the front row but I did my best lap on the superpole so I feel that I did my best. We’ve got a good set-up and I have been up the front all weekend on race tyres, so this looks good for the race. I expect a good race tomorrow with many riders fighting for the lead. I am happy with the way my bike is, so hopefully I will be one of them!” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “I have been feeling sick all weekend so I am quite happy with my superpole performance – it was good fun! I have a good set up and was able to do a lot of consistent lap times, so I am looking forward to the races tomorrow.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “It’s been a difficult day and I do not really know why I was riding so slowly. We have had big chatter problems here all weekend. We tried so many changes and we made some improvements in the last session, so we will need to see how it goes tomorrow.” Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) “This is my first time here with the R1 and I made a small mistake with my suspension settings today. That is why I couldn’t go fast enough to get into superpole but we made some changes in the free practice session so I am sure that we will have a much better performance in the races tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia) “We are feeling very positive about tomorrow’s races. Andrew is running very strongly on race tyres and thankfully also he was uninjured in the crash. It was also good that he but in his best laps after the crash because, although a rider will always deny it, they usually lose some feeling in these events. With Nori I believe he can do a good job for us. He is always better on race day than on qualifying and I remember him, I think it was at Brands Hatch in 2000, starting in 16th and being second at the first corner, so we know what he is capable of doing.” Yamaha Motor Germany’s world supersport riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes had opposing fortunes on the final day of qualifying at Phillip Island today. Curtain put his YZF-R6 on the front row, in fourth place, but Parkes was forced to sit out the afternoon session after crashing during the morning’s free practice. Curtain improved his time by almost half a second during the second qualifying session with a best of 1’35.436, but was unable to eliminate the set-up problems which is causing excessive wheelspin and tyre wear on his YZF-R6. The experienced Australian, winner of this race in 2002, and his team will make further changes to the rear suspension in a bid to improve the settings for tomorrow’s 21 lap race. Parkes crashed heavily midway through the morning session and was taken to the medical centre after being highsided from the machine. Thankfully examinations revealed no broken bones and the rider was sent back to his hotel to rest. He is expected to take part in tomorrow’s race and, if fit, his Friday time of 1’38.021 will put him 12th on the grid. Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) will start on pole position after posting a time of 1’35.746. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) “I’m really glad to be on the front row at my home race. I rode as hard as I could on that lap but we’ve still got problems with the rear suspension. We tried a few things today to solve it but unfortunately it’s still there. We’re just spinning up coming out of the corner and that’s destroying the tyre and losing us drive down the straight. We’ll make some more changes for tomorrow and if we can get some good times in the warm-up I feel confident that we can get a good result.” Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) “I’m pretty badly beaten up but I intend to race tomorrow. My back is badly bruised and I’m very stiff just now, but I will have an early night tonight and hopefully will feel better tomorrow. It’s a shame as I felt that we had made some good improvements to the bike since yesterday. At least my Friday time was good enough for the third row, so that’s not as bad as it could have been.” More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi Ducati: BAD DAY IN AUSTRALIA FOR SC’s RIDERS (Phillip Island 2005, April 2) Once more a bad day at Phillip Island for the riders of Scuderia SC Caracchi, first of all in Superbike where the 999RS Ducatis of Lorenzo Lanzi and Fonsi Nieto ended the qualifying session out for the Superspole group. Today too better situation for the Supersport class, with the 749R Ducati ridden by Gianluca Nannelli earned the seventh place in the final starting grid. Sunny day with 32°C air temperature and 40°C on the track, once more with a strong wind. Lorenzo Lanzi, only 27th at the end of qualifying session, is specially mortified for his result. “yesterday we ended the practices sure to be able to get a better result today.” – commented disappointed the rider from Cesena. “That’s a mistery, but the bike looking yesterday afternoon to be a bit better this morning was no more performing. The weather conditions were actually the same and I don’t understand what happened. We controlled all the recorded data with other teams too and we didn’t found any anomaly. I’m really discouraged and it’s not enough that during the second free practice session, without the qualifying pression, I rode better, I’m still far not only from the top group but also from the second row riders. I’m really sorry for Maurizio Perlini, my chief-engineer, and the guys which have done a big work, but we’ve been not able to carry out all this work in a good result.” A bit better today Fonsi Nieto, also if his grid position, 22nd, isn’t actually exciting. The Spanish rider, as well with several setting troubles, improved steadily his performance during all the practice sessions and now is going to have a better feeling with his 999RS. “My bike is always in the highest top speed machine’s group”. – said at the end of the practices Fonsi Nieto. “That’s a comforting thought as well I’ve always improved my laptime, also if not with the improving rate I wish. Of course to start from the sixth row isn’t a happy situation, but finally it looks that, as well with some hesitation, we started to walk along the right way.” Once more Supersport Gianluca Nannelli on his 749R recorded a positive result, which could be however better. Nannelli focused his work on the race set up, finding a good final arrangement which, together a top speed of 287,5 kph, lat to be confident for tomorrow’s race. Unfortunately a stupid crash, without consequences, in the fast corner at the end of the finish line, forced him to an early stop in the final qualifying session. Luckily any injury for Gianluca and only small damages for the bike. “I’m very sorry for this mistake, but luckily the damages have been very small.” – related his mishap Gianluca. “I was catching the front row and with fresh tyres I hazarded more as allowed and I crash. However for the race I feel quite confident. During the early part of the final session I tried a long runand I could see that my 749R has a very good output. Thanks Franco Farnè and the guy’s work we recorded once more the best top speed, on this track that I love that cound be the absolute weapon.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Yukio Kagayama took his first ever World Superbike Superpole at Phillip Island today knocking over half a second off his previous best time in the process. His Superpole lap was not the smoothest in the world, due to a few slides, but he never looked out of control as he sped round the 4.45 kilometre Australian circuit. His team mate Troy Corser had been fastest in timed qualifying but a change of track temperature and the smallest of mistakes was enough to knock him off the top spot. But his time of 1:33.398 was good enough for a front row start, alongside Steve Martin (Petronas) and Max Neukirchner (Honda). Yukio Kagayama – 1st, 1:33.241: “I am a little surprised but happy with my Superpole lap. I went half a second faster than in normal qualifying, so that was a sign that we have made good progress today. My Superpole lap was not perfect because I had some slides, but there were no moments when I thought I was in trouble. Today we tried some changes but we did not make any big steps, so I went back to the set-up from yesterday and that seemed to work ok this afternoon. “Phillip Island is a very physical track because there are many changes of direction at high-speed, so you must be strong. My aim in Superpole was to equal or beat Troy’s time and when I did that, I was happy. I expected Troy would have been a bit quicker in Superpole but he is on the front row of the grid and that is the most important thing. At the moment I am happy, but this evening I will be thinking about the race tomorrow. That is more important then Superpole.” Troy Corser – 4th, 1:33.398: “I am a little disappointed not to win Superpole, but it’s what happens tomorrow that counts. I am on the front row and that’s good enough to go for a win or two. I felt that maybe I was a little cautious at the start of my Superpole lap and that, together with a small mistake at Siberia, was enough to drop me down the order a little. “It is so easy to either gain or lose a tad round here and that affects lap times considerably. Maybe there was a little change in the mapping when the temperature dropped as well, but in the end it’s no drama because I am on the front row.” World Superbike final qualifying: 1 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:33.241, 2 Martin (Aus-Petronas) 1:33.301, 3 Neukirchner (D-Honda) 1:33.375, 4 Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:33.398, 5 Pitt (Aus-Yamaha) 1:33.461, 6 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda) 1:33.557, 7 McCoy (Aus Petronas) 1:33.676, 8 Laconi (I-Ducati) 1:33.837, 9 Vermeulen (Aus-Honda) 1:34.053, 10 Toseland (GB-Ducati) 1:34.068. WORLD SUPERSPORT QUALIFYING: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Javi Fores improved both his physical condition and his lap time today and finished a creditable tenth fastest overall. He achieved his target of a 1:37 lap and he maintained his position as the top Suzuki rider on the grid – all this despite being unable to give 100% yesterday due to illness. Frenchman Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) dominated qualifying and took pole position with a lap of 1:35.746. Second and third quickest today were the Hondas of Michel Fabrizio and Fabien Foret, with local hero Kevin Curtain (Yamaha) fourth fastest. Javi Fores – 10th, 1:37.915: “At least I felt good enough to ride the bike today. Yesterday was a bit of a waste – except that I did begin to learn which way the track went. Phillip Island is a great track to ride and I like it a lot. It’s very demanding and you have to know exactly where you are going if you want to make good lap times. I’m happy that I improved my lap time and I’m happy that I was the top Suzuki out there. “Starting fro m the third row is not going to be easy but the first turn is a long way off so it’s not so bad. Also, there are passing places, so I hope that I can get further up the order and challenge for a top six place.” World Supersport final qualifying: 1 Charpentier (F-Honda) 1:35.746, 2 Fabrizio (I-Honda) 1:35.903, 3 Foret (F-Honda) 1:36.230, 4 Curtain (Aus-Yamaha) 1:36.436, 5 Fujiwara (J-Honda) 1:36.524, 6 Chambon (F-Honda) 1:36.819. 10 Javi Fores (E-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:37.915. More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: FRONT ROW FOR TROY A change in conditions and the smallest of problems in one corner were enough to deprive Troy of a Superpole win in front of his home fans. But although Troy was disappointed not to take Superpole, his lap was good enough for a spot on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s pair of 22-lap races. Troy had led normal timed qualifying, but in the end it was his team mate Yukio Kagayama to steal the glory in the sixteen rider Superpole shoot-out. Second was Steve Martin (Petronas), with Max Neukirchner (Honda) a surprising third quickest. TROY – 4th, 1:33.398 Of course I am a little disappointed today – not to win Superpole – but what happens in tomorrow’s 22-lap races is far more important. At this track it is so easy to lose a tad – or sometimes gain a tad – and that affects the whole lap and the lap time. I’m not at all bothered because I am on the front row and that’s all that matters really. Maybe I was a little cautious at the beginning of my Superpole lap and that, together with the fact that the bike didn’t seem to quite hook up as I expected at Siberia, was probably enough to lose a little time. It’s also possible that the drop in temperature changed the bike’s mapping a little, but we will not find that out for sure until we look at the telemetry this evening. There’s gonna be two long, hard races here tomorrow and I am confident that I can win at least one race. I don’t think any rider is going to break away from the rest. It’s going to be a real fight to the flag and I’m ready for that. More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: Martin second on Phillip Island grid Steve Martin will start tomorrow’s second round races in the Superbike World Championship from second on the grid at his home circuit of Phillip Island, Australia. And Garry McCoy’s seventh-placed qualifying performance on the PETRONAS FP1 made it an exceptional day for the Foggy PETRONAS Racing team. Steve finished an agonising six hundredths of a second behind Yukio Kagayama on pole by slicing another half a second off his previous best time in a thrilling Superpole lap. Garry also took a huge 0.7 second chunk out of his fastest time after recording a series of impressively consistent times on race tyres during the preceding free practice session. And, despite a changeable weather forecast, both riders are now relishing the prospect of tomorrow’s race action in front of a partisan crowd. Steve said: “When I went out I thought it was possible too finish that high, but maybe not with that time! But it’s still frustrating to be just six hundredths off pole. The boys saying that I was sliding around but it felt fine to me! And I had a bit of pressure on me because Garry had just done a good lap and I thought `That’s going to be hard to beat.’ I have got a pretty good set-up for the race and I think it’s going to be exciting. If I can get away with the front guys then I think I can be on that pace. But the first aim is to finish both races, and it would be great if we could finish on the podium. The team is working excellently and PETRONAS are bringing the bike on really well – and we have more to come soon.” Garry said: “I’m never totally happy unless I am first but I was happy with my Superpole time, which was seven tenths faster than I had gone earlier. I did quite a few laps in free practice on a new soft rear tyre and I was doing pretty consistent times – so I’m ready to race! I wasn’t really pushing over the limit and I felt comfortable doing those times. I’m not sure how many laps the guys in front of me had done on their tyres but I felt I could pass them quite easily. The improvement came from just a little click adjustment here and there at the front and rear. I haven’t used this set-up in the wet so we really want it to stay dry for tomorrow. Whatever the weather, I think it’s going to be a packed out race.” Superpole results, Superbike World Championship round two, Australia: 1 Kagayama 1:33.241; 2 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) +0.060; 3 Neukirchner +0.143; 4 Corser +0.157; 5 Pitt +0.220; 6 Muggeridge +0.316; 7 McCoy (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) +0.435; 8 Laconi +0.596; 9 Vermeulen +0.812; 10 Toseland +0.827; 11 Bussei +1.262; 12 Abe +1.501; 13 Walker +1.562; 14 Vizziello +1.698; 15 Cardoso +1.762; 16 Sanchini +1.891 Saturday morning qualifying times: 1 Corser (Alstare Suzuki) 1:34.793 (1:33.191); 2 Neukirchner (Klaffi Honda) 1:33.632; 3 Pitt (Yamaha Italia) 1:33.677; 4 Vermeulen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:33.781; 5 Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki) 1:34.762 (1:33.787); 6 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:33.836; 7 Laconi (Ducati Xerox) 1:34.291 (1:34.084); 8 McCoy (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:34.304; 9 Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:35.125 (1:34.364); 10 Vizziello (Italia Lorenzini) 1:34.396 Saturday free practice times: 1 Corser 1:33.169; 2 Pitt 1:34.108; 3 Kagayama 1:34.183; 4 Muggeridge 1:34.424; 5 Toseland 1:34.602; 6 Neukirchner 1:34.609; 7 Vermeulen 1:34.710; 8 Laconi 1:34.872; 9 Cardoso 1:34.973; 10 Abe 1:35.035; 11 McCoy 1:35.208; 12 Martin 1:35.259