Suzuki dominates World Superbike Championships

Gary McCoy, Team Foggy Petronas: “If I had been able to get away with the front guys I probably could have had a better chance of being close. When I got past Steve and Chris Walker I was starting to concentrate on the guys in front but had probably wasted the tyre a bit in the early stages. I had actually had a few slips at Haysheds earlier in the day as it seemed a little greasy there. I went in there quite cautious so there could even have been a gush of wind because the bike went sideways all of a sudden. I got flicked onto the front screen and went down into the kitty litter! Andrew Pitt also came off behind me and I thought ‘Here comes something blue’ as I was lying there. I was confident his bike would stop before reaching me or else I would have been out of there! In the first race I got a good start and had the front guys in my sights. I was pretty happy that I could be consistent throughout the race and, with a bit more luck, I would have finished up there.”

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Charpentier wins World SuperSport

After looking like a certain winner in the first round at Qatar and having his tyres go off, Sebastien Charpentier took victory in the second round of the World Supersport championship, crossing the line 3.5 seconds ahead of Yamaha’s Kevin Curtain. His Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Katsuaki Fujiwara, finished in fourth place, just fifteen hundredths of a second behind Honda-mounted third placed man, Fabien Foret.

It was Charpentier’s second win in world championship supersport racing‚ his first coming seven years ago at Nurburgring in Germany‚ and gives the Frenchman the championship lead after his second place at the opening round in Qatar.

Yamaha Motor Germany rider Kevin Curtain showed true determination to take second place in his home race at Phillip Island after a last minute decision to change the suspension settings on his YZF-R6 paid dividends. Having suffered throughout the qualifying sessions with traction problems, Curtain’s mechanics fitted a new rear shock absorber for race day – but were unable to properly test the new settings due to wet conditions in the pre-race warm-up.

Starting from fourth on the grid, the experienced Australian traded the lead with Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) in the opening laps of the dry race, before the Frenchman started to pull a slight gap with 17 of the 21 laps completed. With a clear gap back to third place, Curtain was able to hold on for his second successive second place at Phillip Island and his first podium of the season.

Curtain’s team-mate Broc Parkes showed true grit to ride bravely after a high-speed crash during the previous day’s free practice session. The youngster started down in 12th place after missing final qualifying but was able to ride a steady and professional race to come home in seventh place, moving him up to fifth overall in the championship standings.

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