CHARPENTIER AND SOFULOGLU HEAD UP STRONG HONDA PRESENCE With four officially supported riders being fielded on the new Honda CBR600RR in the comingseason, the aim is a simple one; retain the World Supersport Championship for a sixth successive season. Honda has held the championship title since 2002, and the current world champion, Sebastien Charpentier (now riding for the renamed Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team) made history in 2006 by becoming the first rider ever to retain the Supersport title, which was first granted full FIM World Championship status in 1999. Last year’s epic battle for the riders’ crown was punctuated by injury and slow recovery, grinding determination and final drama for the French rider, but however the championship plays out this season, it seems very possible that Charpentier’s main rival will come from within his own Hannspree Ten Kate Honda Team. Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) won two races last year, and has been fast in testing all through the winter build up towards round one, to be held at the Losail circuit in Qatar on Saturday 24 February 2007. The Turkish rider has finished in the top three of each championship he has competed in the past few years, and despite some dips in his learning curve during his first full rookie season in 2006, he finished third overall in the series. Once more Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda Team CBR600RR) returns to the Supersport fray for Honda, and he will be hoping to stay injury free in the early stages, to allow him to build a secure early points total and thus put him in with a chance of a high final classification. An important part of Honda’s development programme, as well as a potential winner in his own right, Fujiwara has won six previous WSS races. Lorenzo Alfonsi (Althea Honda Team CBR600RR) was the Superstock 1000 champion in the 2004 season, and joins a new team this year to ride the latest CBR600RR, after finishing third in the Italian Superbike Championship in 2006. He rode two WSS races last season, but is otherwise a rookie in this competitive racing class. In the push for another historic title win, Charpentier knows he could not be better placed than he is now, in the same team which has won the championship for five years in a row – especially as the first race is at one of his ‘best’ circuits. “Qatar is a good track for me, I won the first race of the series there last year and it just suits my style,” said the 2005 and 2006 champion. “I think with the new bike there is a good possibility for me to finish on the podium. I am happy with our most recent test at Valencia and confident about the first race. I feel quite good and I can’t wait to be back. I will understand my real physical condition only when I will make my first few laps on the track. I will only think about last year’s victory, and I am convinced that this will give me the right motivation.” Sofuoglu, an intense rider who knows he must overcome a formidable group of riders to take his first major title win, has been happy with all aspects of his off-season. “I am really looking forward to the start of the season,” said the talented Turkish rider. “For me, it is better than last year because 2006 was my first year in Supersport and I had no idea what would happen. Now I know the class, I know the other riders, I know my team and I know what to expect. We have already tested with the new bike and it is a big improvement. The test times are much faster than last year. We did not have ideal track conditions for our last test at Valencia but I am feeling very happy and we were still setting better lap times than before. We have done some good testing and I feel more confident with the new bike.” Fujiwara’s talents are a well-known quantity in Supersport, and this year he knows he may have to start with a high degree of realism to attain his ultimate objective. “I will not be thinking about victory even before the first practice,” said ‘Kats’. “Last year I made a mistake when I started the race very fast, without the best machine set-up and I crashed when I pushed hard, breaking my scaphoid. This year I want to work step-by-step, with my target in Losail to take a good finishing position. There are many important riders in Supersport this season, but I believe I will have a good year.” Alfonsi is going for a top ten at Losail, and knows that this is a big ask for himself first time out in his new squad. “I have a good feeling with the guys of the team,” said the 26-year-old Italian. “They work very well, with a good experience in the Supersport class and I have confidence. I will start in Qatar with the target to finish inside the first ten positions. I know that this target will be hard, but I want to conquer it anyway, because a good start to the season will be important for me and the squad”. The second round of the Supersport championship takes place at Phillip Island, Australia, just one weekend after the first round in Losail. World Superbike Round 1 of 13 HONDA SUPERBIKE RIDERS OUT TO MAKE EARLY SCORES AT LOSAIL A strong first season on a Honda in World Superbike took 2004 World Superbike Champion James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) to overall second place, and at Losail on Saturday 24th February, Toseland will take his first steps down a road he hopes lead back to ultimate championship success. Teamed up with former 250cc Grand Prix race winner Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR), Toseland is but one of six supported Honda riders in the championship, riding the latest development of the CBR1000RR Fireblade, launched as a new model in 2006. A strong Honda Superbike push in 2007 includes not only the renamed Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team, but also the DFX Corse Honda squad, running Michel Fabrizio (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) and new signing Steve Martin (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) plus another two fast Australian riders, Karl Muggeridge (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR) and World Supersport race winner for Honda in 2004, Joshua Brookes, (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR). Each Honda Superbike team runs their own choices of engine tuning, suspension components and support technologies, and thus each has embarked upon their own series of winter tests. Toseland is looking for an even better start than last year, especially after a good off-season of development with a team he slotted straight into at the start of the 2006 championship. “I have been looking forward to the first race since I finished so strongly at the end of last year,” said Toseland. “I won the first race of the season in Qatar in 2006, which was a big surprise to everyone including myself particularly as I had switched to Honda after being with a rival manufacturer for five years. This put us in a good position to battle for the championship for the rest of the year and this it the kind of start I am hoping for again. I want to keep the winning streak going. The development of the bike in pre-season testing has been really strong. After the final test in Valencia last week, I think we are ready to go to Qatar and be capable of winning. We didn’t have much to test in Spain but it’s nice to have a bit of a ride-out only 11 days before the first race.” Roby Rolfo’s first year on a Honda Superbike will doubtless feature a steep early learning curve, but he is a big fan of the generally fast Losail circuit, and knows this should help his first weekend’s chances. “For the first race of the championship I am very focused on understanding and applying everything we have learned during the winter testing,” stated Rolfo. “I have learned a different riding style and I am really happy with the progress that I have made with Hannspree Ten Kate Honda. Qatar is a track that I like very much because I have always had good results there. I’m glad that the first race is there because hopefully I can start the series well and carry this on through the rest of the Championship.” An up-and-down 2006 rookie SBK season for Fabrizio featured a few notable highs, including three podium finishes, and a second year in the same team should be a good springboard for even more success. “Things are good and I am happy,” said Fabrizio, “and we have been close with the other top teams we have tested with. In Qatar we don’t know what will happen but I feel we are in a position to defend the colours of our team. I have stayed with a more familiar development of the CBR1000RR because I feel it is more ‘mine’. The other development of the bike goes equally well, but I prefer to stay on one path at the moment. I do not want to create false hopes but I feel that we will be a big reality this year.” In Steve Martin the DFX team has replaced outgoing rider (and new team-manager Pierfrancesco Chili) with one of almost equal experience, even if he is new to the CBR1000RR. “I’m really looking forward to the Qatar and Philip Island opening rounds and just getting back into racing mode,” said Martin, who has ridden for DFX in the past, in its pre-Honda days. “I feel in top form physically and mentally and so now can’t wait to get going. I was still using an old spec engine in the most recent tests so there wasn’t anything we could do in terms of development and mapping in that area, but we did get some more positive work done on set up and handling and I managed to improve on my previous test lap time from last month.” Muggeridge, who rode for the Ten Kate Honda team last year, is itching to get back into action again, although he knows there is still work to do to after some recent testing in Sicily. “We are going to Doha in the right frame of mind,” said Muggeridge, “but the season starts so early and it’s been difficult to get everything ready and developed. I ran a single bike in our recent tests, and we only had limited time because of that. But we will be giving it all we have when we got to Doha. I just wish the season started a bit later in the year.” For Brookes, who started in Supersport in 2006 and then moved to Superbike midseason, 2007 will be a challenge, but one laden with opportunities as the year unfolds. “I am being totally realistic about our chances in Qatar,” said Brookes. “The bike still has masses of improvements to make in all areas, from suspension to the electronics and basic set up, but I am ready to race and will give it my best shot. I’m a racer, and if I can qualify in Superpole, a top ten finish in the two races may not be out of the question. The bike is just awesome, so if we can get some settings sorted in the first day, then things will go OK. It’s vital we don’t put unrealistic expectation in the first few rounds, but I am quietly confident that as the season progresses things will get better and better.” Like Supersport, the second round of the Superbike series moves to the classically sculpted Phillip Island circuit, between 2 and 4 March.