Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By Glenn LeSanto

Fabien Foret, the flying Frenchman, won a battle of France to take the win at the opening World Superbike round in Valencia. He spent most of
the race racing with fellow Frenchman Stephane Chambon in a thrilling battle to the line for victory.

Foret got a poor start on his Ten Kate Honda but recovered to take second place by the middle of lap one. Then he twice tried without success to pass Chambon to grab first place. The first time Foret got past, he ran wide on the brakes and was pushed back down into second. The second attempt saw him run even wider, narrowly avoiding a trip into the gravel trap. This time he was pushed down into fourth place.

Foret recovered and picked his way back to the front to start a fantastic duel with Chambon. By lap seven he got the better of Chambon and moved in front. Riding in his usual spectacular style Foret used all the track and then some to stay ahead of Chambon. But even when he ran so wide on the exit of the last turn he didn’t even think about closing the throttle, much to the amazement of the spectators in the main-straight grandstand. He repeated this spectacular move several times.

Christian Kellner, back in third, could only watch as the front pair got further into the distance. He then came under attack from a determined Chris Vermeulen, who is this year riding for Team Van Zon TKR. Kellner got the better of Vermeulen in the drag for the line to hang onto third place. Kellner’s teammate Jorg Teuchert lost the front end on lap five after touching the brake lever midway through a turn. He remounted but could only finish 16th.

World Supersport race result:
1 Fabien Foret, France (Honda) 38:11.646
2 Stephane Chambon, France (Suzuki) 38:11.962
3 Christian Kellner, Germany (Yamaha) 38:18.922
4 Chris Vermeulen, Australia (Honda) 38:18.947
5 Andrew Pitt, Australia (Kawasaki) 38:19.916
6 James Whitham, GB (Yamaha) 38:20.063
7 Alessio Corradi, Italy (Yamaha) 38:32.253
8 Paolo Casoli, Italy (Yamaha) 38:33.849
9 Antonio Carlacci, Italy (Yamaha) 38:43.484
10 Werner Daemen, Belgium (Honda) 38:45.271

World Supersport championship points after one of 12 rounds:
1 Foret 25
2 Chambon 20
3 Kellner 16
4 Vermeulen 13
5 Pitt 11
6 Whitham 10
7 Corradi 9
8 Casoli 8
9 Carlacci 7
10 Daemen 6.

Manufacturers1 points:
1 Honda 25
2 Suzuki 20
3 Yamaha 16
4 Kawasaki 11
5 Ducati 5