SYKES AND VERMEULEN IN THE POINTS AT ASSEN Kawasaki Racing Team riders Tom Sykes and Chris Vermeulen were in action at round four of the 2010 Hannspree World Superbike Championship whereby both riders scored points at a warm and sunny Assen circuit yesterday. Riding the factory Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, Yorkshireman Tom Sykes claimed a creditable 12th place in the day’s opening 22-lap race around the 4.5-mile Dutch track, after a race long battle with regular front runners Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) and the Suzuki of Leon Haslam. However, any hopes Sykes had of improving were scuppered on the opening lap of race two when he was the unwitting victim of a low speed crash which involved a couple of riders and saw him unable to continue from his 14th place start on the grid. Making a welcome return to action for the Penrith-based team following a knee injury sustained in the opening round was Australian Chris Vermeulen and despite still being handicapped by the problem, the former MotoGP race winner battled heroically all weekend. A crash during qualifying saw him plant the Paul Bird Motorsport machine in 19th place on the grid but the ex World Supersport Champion battled to 17th place in a tough opening race before finally opening his account for the season with a hard fought 14th place in race two after a race long battle in what was a classic race. Sykes’ crash saw him record only his second non finish of the season, all the others being in the points meaning he occupies 16th in the title chase, just behind the factory BMW of Ruben Xaus and ahead of the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda of Max Neukirchner going into the next round at Monza in two weeks time. Vermeulen’s points see him in 20th place in the standings, just behind fellow Aussie and also a World Champion, Andrew Pitt. Tom Sykes: “We did the best job we could during qualifying but it’s never that easy starting from the fourth row. After Superpole the team and I had a good chat looking over the data and to their credit they came up with a good idea for the warm up which was a vast improvement. We suddenly found some extra pace and were fast and consistent for this session in 3rd. Race one and I had a reasonable start but the weather conditions were a lot warmer than in the morning warm up. I got away in the top ten and was holding my own but gradually lost grip on the front towards the end of the race so I lost my top ten spot and had to settle for 12th. Race two was a big disappointment for me as I got caught up with some desperate riders who made a mistake on lap one and I paid the price. Both the team and I were gutted as we were looking really good for an improved result for race two.” Chris Vermeulen: “We finished both races, one in the points. It was difficult to race and I had painkillers and strapping on the knee all weekend. We managed to get there even if the bike set up was not ideal because we had to compromise the settings and my riding position because of the injury. But that side is only going to get better and I am hoping it will be 100% better by the time we get to Monza. With two more weeks of physiotherapy, my knee will improve and I will see how we are in Italy. Scoring points is a real positive that we can take out of this weekend.” Paul Risbridger, Team Manager: “Its been a positive weekend for the team with further points added. We were very pleased to see the return of Chris to the team even though it was obvious that he was not fully fit, he gave 100% all weekend and came away with some well deserved points for his efforts. Tom was competitive from the start of the weekend and his qualifying and race pace showed continued progress. His race one effort was outstanding and we were more than happy with his 12th place. Race two was a big disappointment for both Tom and the team as he was in a very capable position to have achieved even more points but a crash beyond his control put him out of the race. The team is making steady progress and we’re looking forward to heading to Monza.” Paul Bird: Team Owner: “Overall it was a much more positive weekend for us than the previous weekends we’ve had for 2010 with both riders able to at least take away some points from the races. Of course there are always incidents beyond the rider’s control so I feel that once again we weren’t able to showcase our true efforts and potential with being able to score points in all races which we are more than capable of. I really enjoyed the racing this weekend at Assen and I’m looking forward to seeing Chris return to his full fitness and am happy for Tom that he’s making good progress on the ZX-10R.” RACE 1 RESULTS 12. T. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) 17. C. Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team) 1. J. Rea (Ten Kate Honda) 2. J. Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda Team) 3. L. Camier (Aprilia Racing) 4. C. Checa (Althea Ducati) 5. T. Corser (BMW Motorrad) 6. M. Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) 7. J. Smrz (Team PATA B&G Racing) 8. C. Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda Team) 9. S. Byrne (Althea Ducati) 10. N. Haga (Ducati Xerox Team) RACE 2 RESULTS 14. C. Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team) DNF. T. Sykes (Kawasaki WSB) 1. J. Rea (Ten Kate Honda) 2. L. Haslam (Suzuki Alstare) 3. J. Toseland (Yamaha Sterilgarda) 4. M. Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) 5. T. Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 6. C. Checa ((Althea Ducati) 7. J. Smrz (Team PATA B&G Racing) 8. S. Byrne (Althea Ducati) 9. M. Neukirchner (Ten Kate Honda) 10. R. Xaus (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) The next round is at Monza in Italy over the weekend of 8/9th May 2010. More, from a press release issued by Gino Rea’s publicist: Gino battles to 7th in Assen World Supersport race and moves up to 6th in Championship standings 25/04/2010- The Assen World Supersport race saw Gino battle till the end to finish 7th, another top 10 result in his debut World Supersport season. Gino came out on top of a race long scrap with very experienced riders, Factory Kawaski rider Katusata Fujiwara and team mate Massimo Roccoli. This moves Rea up to 6th in the World Championship after 4 rounds. Gino’s words: ‘This has been a very positive weekend for us. We have constantly tried to improve the bike and was still tweaking things in the warm up. Another top 10 result and important points for the championship. ‘I got a good jump off the line again but was too cautious into the first corner, I was behind a group that was led by Chaz Davies and I was behind Fujiwara. As I got into a rythem I closed onto Fuji, I thought that he would have the pace to pull me up to the riders infront, Lagrive and Davies. But, he actually started to hold me up, I was faster in lots of places so I tried to make a move on him and passed him on the brakes into a left hander. I then tried to close the gap to Davies, Lagrive and Harms but got a little caught up in a battle with my team mate which let the group infront get away. Massimo and Fujiwara both come past so I put my head down and passed them both back to hold 7th at the line. ‘It feels good to beat Fujiwara, a factory rider with lots of experience, although we still need to improve in some areas to get closer to the top 5.’ More, from a press release issued by Erik Buell Racing: PEGASUSRACETEAM WINS FIRST 2 ROUNDS OF EUROPEAN SOUND OF THUNDER SERIES AT EUROSPEEDWAY Harald Kitsch takes two dominating wins East Troy, Wis. (April 26, 2010) Erik Buell Racing is delighted to announce that the Pegasusraceteam.com won with the first ever outing of the EBR/Buell 1190RR last weekend at the first two rounds of the European Sound of Thunder Championship. Rider Harald Kitsch turned in a dominating performance in both races, quickest by 3 1/2 seconds per lap, and also set fast lap time of the weekend of all classes. Pegasusraceteam.com forwarded the following report: Pegasusraceteam.com celebrated with rider Harald Kitsch a great race weekend at the first races ever run with the Erik Buell Racing 1190RR-B, taking in both rounds the victory and fastest lap on the German Eurospeedway. “It was an exciting weekend because we did not for sure know where we were standing in relation to the competitors with the new EBR Superbike piloted by Harald Kitsch” say Team owner Thomas Wanner. But in practice it quickly was clear that the 1190RR package will be hard to beat. Because of the early date and bad weather forecast many V-Twinteams did not show up at this event, so race promoter Art-motor decided to start the Sound of Thunder together with Superbike open and the Superbike B, a welcome chance for the team to see where the bike would stand in relation to the inline fours. “On our rollout test of the EBR 1190RR in Alcarras, Spain three weeks ago we had some IDM Superbikes (German Superbike) on the track, and our lap times were within a second, so I wasn´t surprised to see Harald’s speed, but the dominant result I did not expect” said crew chief Jens Krüper. Practice conditions were dry with some sun and a very cold wind, when Harald Kitch took the 3rd fastest lap overall. Only the factory riders Karl Muggeridge and Ghisbert v. Ginhoven, test riding their Honda and BMW works Superbikes were going faster, but did not compete later in the race. Team and rider were more than happy with their first practice; Harald Kitsch said: “We are just at the beginning, and I am sure that this bike has the potential tocompete with the Superbikes, but for now our mission is to win in the Sound of Thunder”. And it was mission accomplished when the races started! Harald won both the Saturday and Sunday race of the Sound of Thunder with the fastest lap overall.