Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128395
Briefly...
Despite winning multiple races last year in
World Superbike, and winning this year again,
Winston Ten Kate Honda rider Chris Vermeulen had to wait until the Assen race to
take his first Superpole success. He took his
maiden Superpole win at the perfect
moment - and in the perfect place. His stunning lap of 2:04.179 was the best of the
weekend and was taken at the home circuit
of his Winston Ten Kate Team, giving them
their first-ever Superpole success in the
World Superbike class as well. Vermeulen,
only ninth fastest after regulation qualifying,
had been saving his best for last, running race
tires in almost all the sessions preceding his
Superpole triumph. Thus he did not have to
wait a long time to set his Superpole lap,
keeping his thought processes at racing pace.
As an Assen race winner last year for Honda,
Vermeulen installed himself in the position of
firm faVOrite, going .7 seconds faster than his
closest rivals after Superpole.
The much-awaited 2006 calendar came
into being at Assen, with a fright or two at
the sparseness of dates, the gaps between
some of the meetings, and the initial absence
of flagship round Brands Hatch. The fear on
that last score was assuaged by both Paolo
Flammini and Brands Hatch owner jonathan
Palmer, albeit separately. "I would not to
read so much into the fact that it is not on
the calendar," said Palmer. "I think it is only
circuits with eXisting contracts that were
definitively on the list. We are meeting with
Flammini in the next two weeks. I'd be surprised and disappointed if there is not a race
at Brands in 2006." Flammini stated that
Brands will be on again, though there are just
some details to be worked out. "We were
very happy with the organization of the MSV
personnel at Brands, with the crowd of over
100,000 people and all key aspects of the
meeting," said Flammini. With Brands 99.9percent set in stone. a more immediate concern is the lack of an additional flyaway
round, with the previous possibilities of
Kyalami, Mexico and Suzuka falling by the
wayside - for now, at least. Kyalami may still
of this race - riding on Charpentier's pillion.
The championship was decided,
arguably, on the same corner at which
Fujiwara had run wide earlier in the race,
but now with two laps to go. Dropping to
fifth as he recovered his composure and
his line, Fujiwara had signed his own nonchampionship status card.
Foret, sensing his first victory of the
year, went all out for the win, with
Charpentier cheWing on his exhaust
fumes all the way to the flag, where he
suddenly smelled the sweet aroma of
overall victory, thanks to his third secondplace finish of the year. He was ahead of
Fabrizio, Curtain and Fujiwara.
Harms, Parkes, Stephane Chambon,
Tatu lauslehto and JaVier Fores rounded
out the top 10, after wild-card rider Arie
Vos dropped off the regular pace.
Charpentier duly took his first and
Honda's fourth Supersport rider's title.
go ahead, if a title sponsor can be found, and
if it does, it will go in the yawning gap shortly
after the beginning of the season's back-toback races in Qatar and Phillip Island. It
would become round three. Ownership
issues and land-use issues are also reported
to be sticking points for Kyalami right now, as
it sits on prime housing land on the outskirts
of johannesburg. The other two blocked-out
dates are supposed to be "phantoms," in
case another date is needed for any reason.
There is only one intra-European clash with
MotoGp, the Portuguese GP and the Magny
Cours race in SBK on October B. When
questioned about why there were only 12
races for sure, Flammini announced: "The
calendar is a three-year project, and with our
goal being a maximum of 14 rounds. We
want to have the three additional flyaway
races, but the current European side of
things is good, especially since the addition of
Bmo. We need one in America, South Africa
and Asia. The Middle East and Australia are
covered by Doha and Phillip Island."
Fons; Nieto, a Superlbike rookie for the SC
Ducati team this year, was sacked by his team
at Assen. They cite a lack of performance
from the rider, and that he broke the clause in
his contract that bars him from making negative comments about the team, as the reasons for his exit. Nieto, on the other hand,
claims that the bike was not reliable and that
his machine was not as high-spec as his teammate lanzi's as the reasons for his comments.
Interestingly, Nieto had just taken on new
sponsorship, from a Spanish holiday resort, at
the previous Brands round.
Andrew Pitt tested the new spec of engine
that the Yamaha Motor ltalia team has developed for him and Haga this season. It arrived
at Assen, and Haga was ready to use it, even
if Pitt reckons it doesn't make a huge difference to the bike's feel. He ran at the Bolloco
test track, owned by Alfa Romeo, and
according to team boss Maio Meregalli, the
facility has an infinite amount of possible terrains, although they used a short track for
All of those titles have come via the Ten
Kate squad, who brought out a new
poster of their WinWin
theme,
WinWinWinWin, with pictures of Foret,
Vermeulen, Muggeridge and Charpentier,
the last four champions.
The fight now is for second on down,
and a classically close one it will be, with
Fujiwara on 127, Curtain on 122, Foret
on I 10 and Fabrizio on 9B.
eN
CIRCUIT VAN DRENTHE
AsSEN, HOUAND
RESULTS: SEmMlER 4,
2005
(ROUND
9)
SUPERBIKE QUALIFYING: I. Chris Vermeulen
(2:04.179): 2. pmos lOseland (2:04.899): J. Tn»' Cone<
(2:05.005): 4. Noriyuk; Hag> (2:O5.078): 5. Karl Muggendge
(2:05.256); 6. Andcew Pitt (2:05.J04); 7. Yukio Kagayama
(2:05.434): 8. Steve Maron (2:05.560): 9. Pie<-mncesco
Chili (2:05.691): 10. Lo,"nzo Lanzi (2:05.9J6): II. """
Clementi (2:06.0J6): 12. Chm Walker (2:06.401): IJ.
GW>lua VaDe/1o (2:06.454): 14. Norick Abe (2:06.5J2):
IS. Ben Bostrom (2:07.624): 16. Max Neuklrchner
(2:05.J96): 17. 5eba>tian Glmbert (2:06.520): 18. Marco
Bordani (2:06.642): 19. Regis Laconi (2:06.691); 20.
Lorenzo Alfons! (2:06.734); 21. Jose Luis Cardoso
(2:06.8n); 22. Garry McCoy (2:06.880): 2J. J"'l:"""" den
~ (2:06.997): 14. Giovanni 8ussei (2:07.414): 25.
Mauro Sancmnl (2:07.627); 26. _
Vellni (2:07.921): 27.
Ludo Pe (Yam): J. Jame. lOseland (Doc); 4. Tn»'
COl'Ser (Suz): 5. Andrew Pnc (Yam): 6.U>renzo l.anzj (Doc);
7. Max Neukln:hner (Hon): 8. Karl Muggeridge (Hon); 9.
Norick Abe (Yam): 10. Ben Bosuom (Hon): II. Yukio
Kagayama (Suz); 12. Garry McCoy (Pet): I J. SebanIan
Gimbert (Yam); 14. Pier-Francesco Chili (Han); 15.
Giovanni Busse:i (l