The fine conditions encountered in most qualifying sessions were repeated on raceday, with temperatures into the 20°C range and little wind in comparison to many recent SBK outings. On Valencia’s notoriously changeable track surface, a small change in ambient air temperature, from morning to afternoon, made for an 18°C change in track temperature, altering the grip characteristics of the track itself from SBK race one to race two. Choices for top riders were generally static on the rear, but many chose different front tyres, with some making significant improvements in race two. Pirelli supplied no less than five race classes at Valencia, with three new categories joining in after the fly away rounds of Qatar and Phillip Island. Race 1 TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 44% TRACK TEMPERATURE 22° AIR TEMPERATURE 20° Troy Corser (Suzuki), the Superpole winner had an utterly unchallenged victory in race one, his closest rival Chris Vermeulen (Honda) finishing some nine seconds down. A good race for Norick Abe ended in the disappointment of a crash, gifting third to Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki). The Kawasaki of Chris Walker was a force throughout, finishing fourth, man and machine’s best finish of the year to that point. Yamaha were represented in the top echelons of the finishing order, with Noriyuki Haga taking a secure fifth place. After Regis Laconi (Ducati) was ruled out of the race after a warm up crash, the highest finishing Ducati was that of world champion James Toseland, in eighth, coming through from a 23rd place on the grid. Race Standings: Rider Bike Team Race time 1 Corser Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki 37’31.052 3 Vermeulen Honda CBR1000RR Winstone Ten Kate +9.116 2 Kagayama Suzuki GXR Alstare Suzuki +12.788 4 Walker Kawasaki ZX10 PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse +16.867 4 Haga Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia +17.882 Race 2 TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 34% TRACK TEMPERATURE 40° AIR TEMPERATURE 24° The second 23-lap provided the same 1-2 of Corser and Vermeulen, with the younger Aussie closer to the championship leader than before. In third, Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) took his and Kawasaki’s first podium of the season, after a great fight with Vermeulen. Yamaha riders also just missed out on the chance of a first podium with Noriyuki Haga fourth and Abe fifth. Pirelli Racing Manager Giorgio Barbier, stated, “This is the first 2005 race in which we have had all categories featured. We have two Superstock classes, one for 1000cc and a new one for 600cc machines, and the Suzuki Cup as well. In all, we have almost 190 riders to supply. Some of our tyres are also roadgoing products like the Diablo Corsa and Super Corsa Pro, which are very important for us because we sell them, as well as racing on them. So the biggest job was to supply the correct material to everyone, in every class, and avoid mistakes with the service. The traffic in our working areas was very heavy! In Superbike all off the teams have tested here a lot, and we expected that their attitude would be to test the different tyres we brought to the race. But what we found is that they were more concerned with set-up, and finding out how much the grip changes between the morning and afternoon. So a lot of them just tested what they had used before, without making a lot of experiments with the new ones. So they almost all raced with an ‘A’ rear tyre, but on the front they played a lot between the ‘B’ and ‘D’ solutions. Some of them made an adjustment from ‘B’ to C’ – for example Chris Walker and he ended up getting a podium in race two. That was a move to a harder choice and it allowed him to improve his performance. My dream was a Yamaha on the podium in race one, then a Kawasaki on the podium in race two. So it was a pity for Abe. In Australia we had a new ‘A’ front, and having had good results with it, we decided to bring it here, and that has now become the new ‘B’. It was good because Corser used it. So now we can compare the two possible ‘A’s so we can arrange which ones to use in each race of the season.” Race Standings: Rider Bike Team Race time 1 Corser Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki 37’52.057 2 Vermeulen Honda CBR 1000 RR Winston Ten Kate +5.361 3 Walker Kawasaki ZX10 PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse +7.184 4 Haga Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia +10.600 5 Abe Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor France +11.903 World Championship Standings: Rider Bike Team Points 1 Corser Suzuki GXR Alstare Suzuki 141 2 Kagayama Suzuki GSXR Alstare Suzuki 110 3 Vermeulen Honda CBR 1000 RR Winston Ten Kate 90 4 Laconi Ducati 999 F05 Ducati Xerox 54 5 Abe Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor France 44 6 Neukirchner Honda CBR 1000 RR Klaffi Honda 41 7 Haga Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia 40 8 Pitt Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia 39 9 Walker Kawasaki ZX10 PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse 38 10 Toseland Ducati 999 F05 Ducati Xerox 30 TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 36% TRACK TEMPERATURE 33° AIR TEMPERATURE 24° Sebastien Charpentier battled the increasing track temperature, and the close attention of his Honda team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara on the final laps, to take his second race win of 2005, 0.844 seconds clear of ‘Kats’, with Yamaha rider Kevin Curtain third. Pirelli Racing Manager, Giorgio Barbier, stated, “In Supersport there was a good improvement over the previous seasons. The riders made the correct choices in the changing conditions as they have a lot of experience after practice Friday and Sunday. So for the race, they made the right choices.” Race Standings: Rider Bike Team Race time 1 Charpentier Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate 38’27.276 2 Fujiwara Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate +0.844 3 Curtain Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Germany +21.382 4 Fabrizio Honda CBR 600 RR Italia Megabike +25.602 5 Foret Honda CBR 600 RR Team Megabike +31.478 World Championship Standings: Rider Bike Team Points 1 Charpentier Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate 70 2 Fujiwara Honda CBR 600 RR Winston Ten Kate 58 3 Curtain Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Germany 49 4 Foret Honda CBR 600 RR Team Megabike 38 5 Fabrizio Honda CBR 600 RR Team Italia Megabike 29 6 Parkes Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Germany 29 7 Chambon Honda CBR 600 RR Gil Motor Sport 24 8 Fores Suzuki GSX 600 R Alstare Suzuki Corona 18 9 Stigefelt Honda CBR 600 RR Stiggy Motorport 16 10 Nannelli Ducati 749R Ducati SC Caracchi 15