Supersport World Championship Round 2 Phillip Island, Australia March 5, 2006 Race Results: 1. Sebastien CHARPENTIER, Honda CBR600RR, 21 laps, 34:01.822 2. Kevin CURTAIN, Yamaha YZF-R6, -1.361 seconds 3. Broc PARKES, Yamaha YZF-R6, -7.796 seconds 4. Yoann TIBERIO, Honda CBR600RR, -16.788 seconds 5. Robin HARMS, Honda CBR600RR, -16.798 seconds 6. Josh BROOKES, Ducati 749R, -21.250 seconds 7. Johan STIGEFELT, Honda CBR600RR, -21.344 seconds 8. Dean THOMAS, Kawasaki ZX-6RR, -26.309 seconds 9. Christian ZAISER, Ducati 749R, -26.473 seconds 10. Maxime ROCCOLI, Yamaha YZF-R6, -26.515 seconds 11. Sebastien LE GRELLE, Honda CBR600RR, -29.839 seconds 12. Mauro SANCHINI, Yamaha YZF-R6, -34.988 seconds 13. Gianluca VIZZIELLO, Yamaha YZF-R6, -36.328 seconds 14. Didier VAN KEYMEULEN, Yamaha YZF-R6, -37.402 seconds 15. Javier FORES, Yamaha YZF-R6, -38.574 seconds 20. Chris PERIS, Yamaha YZF-R6, -83.477 seconds 25. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Honda CBR600RR, -10 laps, DNF, crashed twice 26. Anthony GOBERT, Yamaha YZF-R6, -10 laps, DNF, mechanical More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: CHARPENTIER EXPERIENCES ANOTHER PERFECT RACE WEEKEND Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) scored his second win of the 2006 championship season, after 21 hot and challenging laps of the classic Phillip Island Circuit. His winning margin of 1.361 seconds was earned the hard way after a race long fight with Kevin Curtain, and the race was only ended as a contest after Charpentier upped the pace on the last three laps. With Curtain second overall, Charpentier’s championship lead now stands at ten points, 50 points to 40. Kenan Sofuoglu was in a battle for fourth place when he fell on lap 12, at Honda corner, and he was unable to re-start. He suffered a hard impact on his right wrist, but examinations in the medical centre showed no fractures. A rookie at the Phillip Island circuit, Sofuoglu had enjoyed a good qualifying session, and looked set for a comfortable double-digit point score until his fall. Sofuoglu’s misadventure now puts him sixth overall in the championship fight, on 16 points. Ronald Ten Kate Team Manager “It was another good win for us and it is particularly pleasing because we didn’t have any pre-season testing at this track. We know that the two Yamaha guys had both been testing around here. That makes it all even better. Sebastien had to ride for his money today but it seems that he was ultimately in control. Just like in Qatar, he could go for a few quick lap times even at the end, opening up a gap. He leads the championship by even more points now, so we couldn’t be happier for him. It was a shame for Kenan, because he was riding very well in warm-up, after we had confirmed some things with his set-up. He was a little bit behind the leading bunch, and he made a few little mistakes under braking, so he had to work hard. But he was making the same lap times as the leading group, and then I think he maybe asked too much from the front tyre and fell. It’s a learning year for him, he’s on a steep learning curve, so we’ll see more of him when we arrive back in Europe.” Sébastien Charpentier WSS Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (1st position Championship Position: 1st with 50 points) “Another nice race, for sure. Kevin was very strong, he pushed me very hard but this is normal, and it was a home race for Kevin as well. I tried very hard to win today and it was a very hot race. There was a lot of spinning from the rear, but the bike was very good today, even if the Yamaha was very close. It will be necessary to work extra hard for the next race in Europe, in Valencia. It was a very good weekend here, two wins in the season so far, so I have to say thank you to Honda and Pirelli.” Kenan Sofuoglu WSS Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (DNF Championship Position: 6th with 16 points) “I tried too hard to catch the first group but I made a mistake and fell back down the order a little. There was a small gap to the leaders but I worked my way up to fifth position again, in the second group, managed to overtake another rider, and then I crashed. Not the best weekend result but I hope I can be strong again in Valencia.” More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information: CHARPENTIER MAKES IT TWO WINS OUT OF TWO Reigning Champion Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) continued his perfect run of results with his second win of the season, scoring the Phillip Island victory after 21-laps under a warm Australian sun. Once more he took a win after scoring pole position, and once more he had to beat off a strong attack from his race-long companion, Kevin Curtain (Yamaha). Upping the pace in the final few laps, Charpentier took an eventual 1.361 second margin of victory, and now leads Curtain by ten points, 50 to 40. Eighth in qualifying, Yoann Tiberio (Team Megabike Honda CBR600RR) got his championship campaign off to a brilliant start, with a brave and rapid fourth, reversing a pass from another fast Honda rider, Robbin Harms (Stiggy Motorsports CBR600RR). His fourth place puts him 11th overall, on 13 points. Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) crashed out at half race distance, having qualified well in sixth place, on a track that was new to him. He now sits sixth in the table, thanks to his 16 points from Qatar. Charpentier was once more peerless when it really counted, but had to work hard throughout, being pushed by the pace of determined hometown runner, Kevin Curtain. “Another nice race, for sure,” said Charpentier, the master of understatement. “Kevin was very strong, he pushed me but this is normal, and it was a home race for Kevin as well. I tried very hard to win today and it was a very hot race. There was a lot of spinning from the rear, but the bike was very good today, even if the Yamaha was very close. It will be necessary to work extra hard for the next race in Europe, in Valencia. It was a very good weekend here, two wins in the season so far.” At only 19-years-old, and as a Phillip Island rookie, Tiberio could have been forgiven for adopting a gentle touch in his first race, but his cool-headed aggression delivered him an outstanding result. “After I had to miss Qatar,” said Tiberio, “this was my first race of the year. I qualified OK on the second row, but the race was much harder. Qualifying is only for one lap, but the race had 21, and it was quite hot. I wasn’t sure if I could get Harms before the finish line came up but I got on the gas earlier and just managed it.” After a great podium finish in Qatar, Sofuoglu’s Phillip Island experience proved a bitter one, but the young Turkish rider is ready to make amends. “I tried too hard to catch the first group but I made a mistake and fell back down the order a little,” said Kenan. “There was a small gap to the leaders but I worked my way up to fifth position again, in the second group, managed to overtake another rider, and then I crashed. Not the best weekend result, but I hope I can be strong again in Valencia.” More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: IN SUPESPORT GOOD RESULT FOR JOSH BROOKES, NO LUCK FOR LUKA NEDOG (Phillip Island 2006, March 5) Joshua Brookes fighet as a lion, finishing an all attack race in 6th position, after a thrilling fight against the Swdish rider Stigefelt, and now is at the 5th place of Championship Standing: “In front of my fans I gave the 110% and at the end we reach a good result.” said finally smiling Brookes at the end of the race “For the warm up session we worked on the set up and we good positive answer. For the race I got a good start, at the first split I was 9th , then somebody touched me and I lost a couple of positions. However I recovered, at fourth lap I was 10th and at the thirteenth I was 7th. I fought for many laps with Stigefelt, but at the end I overtook him and on the straight I tried without success to get my trail, our Ducati 749R has too much power. I’m happy for this result, also at the beginning of the season I was confident to do better, but I’m sure that finally we got the right way.” No luck on the contrary for Luka Nedog that, after improving his qualifying lap time more as 2″ during the warm up, was hoping in a good race. On the contrary first a jump start ride trough penalty and the a crash stopped his race. “With the team during the warm up we made a totally new set up, and the result has been quickly excellent.” commented back in the pit Nedog “I recorded easily a 2″ faster lap time as during qualifying, so I was confident in a good race, also because the bike was very fast. On the contrary the track conditions was strongly changed at race time as in the morning warm up, and immediately in the sighting lap I feel subit the bike different. Then the jump start penalty, the following ride trough make me nervous and I crashed at the middle of the race in a strange way, I miss the rear tyre with the throttle totally closed. I haven’t any injury and the bike too isn’t damaged, but my race was finished.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes took their first double podium finish of the year at round two of the Supersport World Championship in Philip Island. The Australian riders were involved in a race-long battle with world champion Sebastien Charpentier (Honda), with the two R6 riders breaking the lap record in the opening stages as they applied pressure to the Frenchman. Parkes demonstrated the new R6’s speed by setting a new lap record on lap three, just minutes after Curtain had lowered Katsuaki Fujiwara’s three year old record. Curtain passed Charpentier at MG corner to take the lead on lap five. However the two Yamaha riders succumbed to rear end traction problems in the later stages of the race, allowing Charpentier to take the win, while the Yamaha men rode sensibly to bring their machines home for valuable championship points. Yamaha Team Italia riders Massimo Roccoli and Gianluca Vizziello brought their R6s home in tenth and 13th places respectively. FIM Superstock 1000 Cup champion Didier van Keymeulen finished 14th, with Javier Fores gaining a point for 15th. Former world superbike race winner Anthony Gobert ran as high as fifth on his GMT94 entered R6 but retired with set-up problems. Charpentier’s win extends his championship lead to 10 points over second placed Curtain. Parkes’ 16 points for third place moves him to fifth in the standings with two of the 13 races gone. Round three of the race takes place at the Ricardo Tormo circuit close to Valencia in Spain on April 23. Prior to that, the Yamaha Motor Germany squad will undertake tests in Misano and Valencia, where they plan to have new parts to increase the competitiveness of their machines. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) I got in front of Charpentier a couple of times but every time I thought I could get a break on him, he came past again. It was close racing but always fair, because Sebastien and I trust each other. It’s the first stage of race development for our new R6. So after Qatar and here, I think we can say that the first stage is going pretty well. I can’t wait for the second stage – can’t wait to get to Valencia now.” Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) “It’s not my best result but I’m really happy to be on the podium here, because it’s my first one in Australia. Having only done a lap last week this was really my first race of the season. I struggled to get my lines flowing today and I probably geared the bike a bit too low. I was able to run with Kevin and Seb in the opening laps, but when I was in the slipstream the bike was hitting the rev-limiter, which I knew wasn’t good. I tried to stay with them but in the end it was better to take the third than try anything silly. I’m looking forward to Valencia as it is a track that suits my style.” Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) “I am quite satisfied to finish in the top 10 in my first race at this circuit. I had a small problem with my braking, which meant that I could not brake as hard as I like into the hairpin but we have no problem with the traction and otherwise the bike was very good.” Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha Team Italia) “I am happy to get some points today. The front of the bike was sliding quite a lot and this meant I could not push as hard as I liked in the fast corners. So, some points are definitely better than none!” Anthony Gobert (Yamaha GMT94) “I had excessive chatter in the front, but I felt like I could still get into the top five. It got so bad I had to stop. We looked at the bike and everything seemed OK, but the chatter just continued and I had to retire.” Terrell Thien (Team Manager – Yamaha Motor Germany) “The early season results have gone well for us. Always our plan was to get as many points as possible in these opening races so to get three podium finishes is as good as we can expect. We expect to have our next performance step for the Valencia race and as the championship goes to Europe we must now target race wins.” More, from a press release issued by FGSport Group: WORLD SUPERSPORT CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2 The big guns of World Supersport fired loudest once more, as Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) took his second successive race win, ahead of Yamaha Motor Germany pairing Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes. Third was a good finish for Parkes on his own track, bit one rider could count Phillip Island as the race of his life. Young French pilot, Yoann Tiberio (Megabike Honda), put in a fourth in his first ever WSS tour of duty, just edging out another impressive rider, Robbin Harms (Stiggy Motorsports Honda). Josh Brookes (Ducati SC Caracchi) rode his heart out on home tarmac to take his 749 to sixth, the top finishing place for a Ducati rider. A possible sixth for Barry Veneman (Hoegee Suzuki) disappeared when his rear tyre punctured and he slipped down the order to retire. In the championship itself, Charpentier now leads by ten points, from Curtain on 40 and Harms on 21.