LAST DAY OF TEST PARTICULARLY UNLUCKY FOR THE WINSTON TEN KATE HONDA RIDERS Valencia was hard and difficult for the “white-blue” riders of the Winston Ten Kate Honda Team with each involved in separate falls which have prejudiced the result of the last day on the Ricardo Tormo circuit. Karl Muggeridge, who fell this morning, has fractured the twelfth vertebra and the second lumbar. Assisted by the Mobile Clinic’s “angels”, Karl, will still probably not be able to step on his CBR1000 for about a month. In the words of Doctor Corbascio the evaluation of the Australian rider is thus: “The x-ray in the hospital has showed a fracture on the D12, twelfth spine, and on the L2, lumbar 2. These two vertebrae are really important; therefore I believe Karl will not be able to step back on a bike much before 40 days have passed. He will surely miss the Valencia race and after some more medical control we will evaluate if he will be in the best condition to race in Monza in the first weekend of May. In this period he will have to wear a cast which will totally immobilize the damaged area.” Karl’s team-mate, James Toseland, couldn’t end the morning session due to a fall, as he badly hit his head after a spectacular high side, flying into the air before landing heavily. The tough English rider, after the ritual medical checks, was able to be back on his bike for the two hour afternoon session. Also during the third day of testing work, the Supersport Winston Ten Kate Honda riders, Charpentier and Sofuoglu, ended their latest Valencia experiences between the protagonists, first and third. Ronald Ten Kate Winston Ten Kate Honda Team Manager “Pretty bad ending of a test for us with two riders in the medical centre, after just half of the morning session. At that time the track reached its best condition and, unluckily, we weren’t able to use it. James got a big hit on the head which left him not in the best possible condition for the afternoon session. But Karl got the worst of it and has fractured his second vertebra, but he should be back with us in a month. It happened during the in-lap, which is strange, because he was not pushing that hard. None of our riders used qualifying tyres in the morning and this is the explanation why we are a bit behind in the standings. I am sure we could have been in the top five or six with both riders because most of the problems we had in the first two days were almost solved. On the Supersport side of things everything looks OK, but there is one question mark for me – how fast can Sebastien go? The lap time from these tests is a bit far from what he has already made. He can probably run a 1’36 high. For Kenan I am very happy because he makes good progress every time he is on the bike. From day-to-day we can see he is picking up his riding, adopting more of a Supersport style. Also the long runs have been perfect to us, with the track in the same condition we can expect when we come back here for the race. I think we are ready on both sides, Superbike and Supersport.” James Toseland – SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (Overall: 16th position 178 laps Fastest lap 1’35.879) “That was really a difficult test. We found some difficulties during the long turn. We don’t have good grip and that’s where we lose most of our time, we’re not capable of using all the power we have. I guess we just have to work hard. For Bayliss to do a 1’33.7 is quite incredible. He must really like the track because he was also on the podium here in MotoGP. I am very impressed by that time. With race tyres he still is within reach but with qualifying tyres he did an amazing lap. All we have to do is to work hard improve our performance. I took a big hit this morning, I felt like I got punched by Mike Tyson, but I was a little lucky and now I feel better. I also hope Karl will feel better soon.” Karl Muggeridge – SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (Overall: 18th position 144 laps Fastest lap 1’35.956) “Not the best day of my life, but I guess this sort of thing can happen in our job. I knew I was hurt straight away, the pain was quite strong. Now all I can do is to relax so that I can be back in top form as soon as possible. Tomorrow I will go to a specialist in Switzerland and we will see what the latest situation is. I want to thank the doctors from the Clinica Mobile who have been wonderful today.” Sebastien Charpentier WSS Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (Overall: 1st position 85 laps Fastest lap 1’37.437) “The weather has been really good overall. I am very happy because I have been very fast every single day. I decided not to participate in the last session of the day because I am satisfied with the package I have at my disposal and with the compromise we found. I just didn’t think it was necessary. I tried a new suspension part and we had positive results in the front part of the bike. I am ready for the next race. I want to wish to Karl all the best because I know he is in a lot of pain and I hope he will be back on the track soon.” Kenan Sofuoglu WSS Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (Overall: 3rd position 125 laps Fastest lap 1’37.989) “My fall apart, I am happy about what I have done in this three days of work. It was my bad luck to find oil on the track and I couldn’t’ manage to avoid it. Lap times have been constantly good and I am looking forward to the race at the end of April. I commit a small error in one of my fast laps, which didn’t allow me to lower my best time even more. I think I lost two or three tenths of a second. I am sure I can compete with the fastest riders. This is my goal in every race of the season.”