Suzuki dominates World Superbike Championships

The start of race was delayed due to high winds, which made the conditions difficult throughout the race. Frenchman Fabien Foret (Honda) took third place after a race-long battle with Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda). The result ensures that both Curtain and Parkes move up one place in the championship positions, to third and fifth place respectively. With two rounds gone, Charpentier leads the championship with 45 points, ahead of Fujiwara on 38 and Curtain on 33.

Sebastien Charpentier‚ ten Kate Honda, first and new Championship leader with 45 points: “It’s been a long time since my last win but I am very happy, especially after the mystery with the front that we had in Qatar. I love Phillip Island and its fast corners, and I was very confident coming here after the successful test we had at Valencia. I had a great race with Kevin Curtain but the wind was very difficult for all of us because it would change strength from lap to lap. The team has been great and we made a really good tyre choice today with a hard front and a medium rear‚ it was the perfect combination.”

Ronald ten Kate, ten Kate team manager: “It was a fantastic race to watch and I’m so happy for Sebastien after being so close to winning here last year. He has been consistently fast since we first started testing and thoroughly deserves this victory. Kats was so close to getting on the podium, which would have been the perfect way to follow-up his win in Qatar. This is the ninth consecutive win for the team and, overall, I’m really pleased to be heading back to racing in Europe with first and second place in the championship.”

Kevin Curtain, Yamaha Motor Germany, second in the race and third in the championship: “It was a tough race, especially with the wind, which was probably the strongest I have ever experienced in my many years here. When I hit the front I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could win this one but again it wasn’t to be. I have to thank my team because all weekend we have had bike traction problems but today they found a miracle solution. As the practice was wet this morning I hadn’t been able to test changes, so I went into the race with an untried shock. Thankfully they went the right way and this is a great reward for all the hard work they’ve done this weekend.”

Terrell Thien, Team Manager - Yamaha Motor Germany: "We’re really happy with Kevin’s result here although it was a shame that we did not have a dry free practice session this morning, because if we had we would have realized that we also needed to change the front suspension too. In the race the rear shock pushed the front so hard that Kevin’s front tyre was destroyed by the end. I was happy that Broc could enter first of all and, after 10 laps, he was in pain all over. But he rode clever and finished the race, and now we are all looking forward to the next race in Valencia. We are learning more about the bike every race and we made good progress in our recent Valencia test without actually being able to try everything we wanted to."

Katsuaki Fujiwara‚ ten Kate Honda, fourth: “It is very disappointing to miss third place by the width of a tyre but I am happy for Sebastien and the rest of the team. The wind was so strong today and it made the bike very difficult to control. I had an amazing battle for third with Fabien Foret and Michel Fabrizio on other Hondas and I tried as hard as I could the whole way through. I’m still learning with the CBR but the team is helping me all the time.”

Broc Parkes, Yamaha Motor Germany, seventh in the race, fifth in the title chase: "Last night I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish the race, so to get a seventh is actually a good result. I actually felt ok when I was on the bike but I felt my riding was off the pace. Still, when I lay on the track after crashing yesterday I was sure that I had broken some bones. It is important to get some good points so overall I am happy with how I went today.” World Supersport, Phillip Island results (21 laps, 93.345kms): 1 Sebastien Charpentier FRA (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 34m28.920s, 2 Kevin Curtain AUS (Yamaha) 3.595s, 3 Fabien Foret FRA (Honda) 9.641s, 4 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 9.664, 5 Jurgen vd Goorbergh NED (Ducati) 29.602, 6 Johan Stigefelt SWE (Honda) 34.168, 7 Broc Parkes AUS (Yamaha) 42.695, 8 Stephane Chambon FRA (Honda) 46.360, 9 Tauto Lauslehto FIN (Honda) 48.976, 10 Christophe Cogan FRA (Suzuki) 56.859. Championship points after two of 12 rounds: Charpentier 45, Fujiwara 38, Curtain 33, Foret 27, Parkes 19, Chambon 17, Michel Fabrizio ITA (Honda) 16, Javier Fores ESP (Suzuki) 13, Lauslehto 13, vd Goorbergh 11.

Odds for World SuperBike Riders Title After Race

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