FIM Supersport World Championship Phillip Island, Australia March 4, 2007 Race Results: 1. Fabien FORET (Kaw ZX-6R), 21 laps, 33:46.218 2. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Hon CBR600RR), -0.704 second 3. Broc PARKES (Yam YZF-R6), -2.243 seconds 4. Sebastien CHARPENTIER (Hon CBR600RR), -6.415 seconds 5. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Hon CBR600RR), -15.085 seconds 6. Pere RIBA (Kaw ZX-6R), -15.192 seconds 7. Robbin HARMS (Hon CBR600RR), -22.846 seconds 8. Barry VENEMAN (Suz GSX-R600), -24.509 seconds 9. Lorenzo ALFONSI (Hon CBR600RR), -26.146 seconds 10. Yoann TIBERIO (Hon CBR600RR), -29.413 seconds 33. Chris PERIS (Yam YZF-R6), -12 laps, DNF, crash More, from a press release issued by Motorcycling Australia: Foret flies down under Frenchman Fabien Foret has stormed home to win the World Supersport race at the Australian round of the World Superbike Championship held at Phillip Island. Despite giving up pole-position with a poor start, Foret showed pure class as he worked his way up the field to take the lead on the 18th lap of 22 a lead he was never going to surrender. Turk Kenan Sofuoglu provided a fight back of his own to claim second position, while Australian Broc Parkes managed to get himself onto the podium with third. Billed as Australia’s best hope in the race, Kevin Curtain gave up a brilliant start to end up in 11th position overall tyre issues proving to be his downfall. After an incident packed start which included two riders going off the track at an early turn, Curtain moved into the lead which he surrendered soon after. The Aussie dropped back into third when he was hauled in by teammate and countryman Broc Parkes, as well as reigning World Supersport champion, Sebastien Charpentier. The three riders then took part in what resembled a game of musical chairs all tasting a share of the lead at some point and rotating positions regularly. It was Parkes who took the upper hand when he moved to the front and began to build a fair lead. The lead which moved out to over one second after seven laps was extended further to 2.1 seconds through 13. Curtain on the other hand was not having everything his way, and slowly drifted down the rider list. First he was overtaken by Charpentier and then by a rampaging Foret (who stormed into second overall), before being passed by Sofuoglu. But all eyes were on Foret, who despite a slow start, continued with the cracking pace he set that landed him pole position for the race, and ended the race a deserved winner. Of the other Australian’s out in action, wildcard’s Chris Seton and Judd Greedy performed exceptionally well to finish 19th and 22nd respectively in the field of 38. More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Sofuoglu maintains championship lead for HANNspree Ten Kate Honda The second round of the 2007 World Supersport Championship concluded today with HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s Kenan Sofuoglu extending his lead in the series after an exciting race that had the Phillip Island spectators on the edge of their seats. Qualifying proved that any one of the top six riders could secure victory and they each put up a good fight for a place on the podium in the fiercely competitive 21-lap race. HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s Sofuoglu was successful once again with a second place finish. His team-mate Sébastien Charpentier ran a hard race to finish in fourth position at the 4.445km track. Sofuoglu started from fourth on the grid and struggled to stay on the pace for the first 12 laps, dropping down to fifth by mid-distance. However, the latter stages saw the tables turn as the young Turkish rider created chance after chance to slip past Kevin Curtain, Broc Parkes and his own team-mate to secure a triumphant second place. He picks up 20 points to hold onto the championship lead – seven points clear of nearest contender and race winner Fabien Foret. Defending world champion Charpentier looked strong from the outset aboard the new Honda CBR6000RR. He maintained station in the top two positions for the majority of the race, but by lap 17 both Foret and Sofuoglu had got the better of him. Despite recording the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1’34.976, the Frenchman couldn’t catch his fellow countryman or his HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate. Charpentier was forced to settle for fourth position and thirteen points, which place him ninth in the overall standings. Ronald Ten Kate, Team Manager: “It’s been a tough weekend for us at Phillip Island. The team worked hard yesterday to improve the bike settings for the race. Things worked out fine for Kenan, who took it easy in the beginning of the race but then pushed forward at the end to come in second. He was still closing the gap on race winner Foret as they crossed the line so that was good. Sébastien struggled with grip today, which was unexpected because we had already tested this tyre in practice. Anyway, we came away with second and fourth, leading the Championship so I have to be happy. We are heading back to Europe with a lot of ideas for the machine after a hard weekend in Australia so we can only improve from here.” Sébastien Charpentier: “I scored some points for the team today but this afternoon has not been easy for me. I was determined to finish on the podium and I started off really well, getting up to the front by lap three. Unfortunately I had a big problem with the rear tyre of the bike and I lost a lot time. We’ve worked really hard on the development of the new bike with Honda and the team so there is no reason why I shouldn’t be back at the top for Donington. I’m ready for the next race – this is a long Championship and it is still early days.” Kenan Sofuoglu: “This was a very tough race. At the test here in January we were doing really fast times and we had the perfect set-up, but as I said yesterday, we have had to change everything on the bike this weekend – gearing, suspension, everything. We’ve had a lot of problems. I said that if I got a podium I would be very happy and I have achieved that. Second place is very good and I am still leading the standings so I am really pleased.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Parkes takes podium in tough supersport race Yamaha World Supersport team’s Broc Parkes took a hard fought third place in the world supersport round at Phillip Island today, although there was a touch of disappointment for the Australian as he led for all but the final three laps of the race. Starting from the second row, Parkes quickly took the lead and pulled away from the chasing pack – heading the four-way battle for second by almost two seconds at one stage. The 25-year-old looked set for a third career win, only for his lap times to drop off in the closing stages of the 21-lap race. Frenchman Fabien Foret (Kawasaki) overtook the Yamaha to take the win with round one winner Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) also getting past Parkes. Despite his problems Broc was able to bring his R6 home in third place. Team-mate Kevin Curtain had been one of the favourites for the win at Phillip Island and he was the early leader as the front group sped off at under qualifying pace. The 40-year-old Australian looked comfortable in the four-rider battle for second when his lap times faded dramatically at around half distance. As in Qatar eight days ago Curtain experienced rear traction problems and was forced to ride on and secure as many points as possible. Despite posting lap times over five seconds from the leaders, Curtain refused to give up and was rewarded with five championship points for his 11th placed finish. It was also a tough day for Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni rider Massimo Roccoli. Despite qualifying back on the fifth row the Italian had been riding impressively in the top ten for much of the race. However, he was forced to stop when his bike cut out and, despite rejoining, was unable to score any points. Sofuoglu’s second place sees him extend his championship lead. The Turkish rider lies on 45 points with second placed Foret on 38. Yamaha’s Curtain is fourth in the standings, on 25 points, with Parkes’ 16 points moving him up to seventh in the championship with two of the 13 rounds gone. Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport team) “I got a good start from the second row and felt that I was a bit quicker than a couple of guys in front so I decided to try and go. I was able to open up a gap of a little more than a second and I tried to keep that pace. I felt the rear go pretty quickly at about nine laps to go so I just got my head down and tried to keep it going. The grip really went off though and I made a mistake out the back of the circuit. Once Fabien and Kenan came past they had much better rear grip than me and I didn’t have any answer to them. I had done a lot of testing on that tyre (specification) and I knew it was good for the race. Unfortunately we didn’t run the full race last weekend so maybe we still have a little more work to do on our chassis settings. It’s a little disappointing to be just a couple of laps away from the win but we’ve come away with some good points and it’s a good result compared to last week.” Kevin Curtain (Yamaha World Supersport team) “I don’t know what to say, I’m just feeling really fed up just now. We’ve got no luck at the moment and I’m really disappointed. It’d been a good weekend and I was confident that I could have a good result today, but the tyre went off and, to be honest, I’m surprised that I was even able to stay on the bike let alone score some points.” Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) “I made a good start and thought I could make a top ten finish when the bike just stopped out on the circuit. I pressed the starter and it fired again after about 30 seconds. I was able to rejoin the race but it was too late and I could not score any points.”