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.