Race finish and points in Magny Cours Nicky Wimbauer (17), Team Moto1-Racing pilot in the European SuperStock 600 championship finished the race in Magny Cours in 14th. position after an impressive catch-up battle. After a string of bad luck in the previous three rounds of the SBK series, Wimbauer had some difficulties to find a good setup in Magny Cours, France. “The track was new to me and the 30 minute free practice was not enough to find a good setup, that compromises fast and hard-breaking sections including elevation changes,” commented Wimbauer. His qualifying laptime of 1:52:326 earned Wimbauer a spot on fifth row of the strong 36 rider field. After making some more radical changes to the bike before the race, Nicky was able match his qualifying time already in lap two of the race and continued to better the race pace lap by lap passing one rider after another in front of him. Wimbauer finished the last round of the European SuperStock 600 championship in 14th. position and posted the 10th-fastest race lap with a laptime of 1:51:554. “The bike was spewing water and the clutch started to slip but I am just glad to have finished a race again, finally. This season was about learning all European tracks and getting familiar with the environment ” said Wimbauer after the race. “The 4 DNFs hurt my point standings but with an updated bike and the track knowledge now, I could build upon the highlights from this year and run within the top-five of that championship next season. However, I am not sure what we will do in 2006. It was great to have english-speaking Hudson Kennaugh and his suspension technician available to me at this round and I wanted to say thanks again and a big thanks to the team for all their efforts thoughout the season.” The new STK 600 series has turned out to be an extremely competitive race series with many participating riders that have won national championships or posted top-five results in previous World SuperSport races. It is not unusual that the performance index covers 12 riders within one second and many riders on the STK600 grid would have qualified for the World SuperSport races even though the SuperStock class uses Pirelli Diablo street tires. SBK officials plan to maintain the successful SuperStock 600 class for 2006, whereas the 2006 schedule will be available soon.