World Supersport Rd 5, Ten Kate Honda again

World Supersport Championships 2005 Round 5, Silverstone – Great Britain, 27 – 29 MAY 2005 May 29, 2005 Winston Ten Kate Honda’s Sebastien Charpentier (CBR600RR) roared to his third win of the season with another front running display, this time not from team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara but from Yamaha Motor Germany rider Kevin Curtain (R6), who recorded his third podium finish of the season at Silverstone. Curtain shadowed Charpentier for two thirds of the 28 lap race before a lack of grip forced him to settle for second in the closing stages. Even despite this easing of pace, Curtain finished a huge 18 seconds ahead of third placed finisher Fabien Foret (Honda) to close in on Katsuaki Fujiwara (Honda) for second place in the championship.

Charpentier’s Honda team-mate, Katsuaki Fujiwara (CBR600RR) was not his closest challenger this time around, fighting off the pain of injury in practice and gearchange issues to finish ninth, but retained his second place in the championship table by 10 points from Curtain. In the championship table the latest thrust of Charpentier extends his championship lead to 25 points from Fujiwara’s 90.

Charpentier also scored the fastest lap of the race on the new circuit, and thus the new lap record, with a 1’29.027. Charpentier was joined on the podium by his French compatriot Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda CBR600RR) who finished third, and a season-best fourth place from former World Champion Stephane Chambon (Gil Motorsport Honda CBR600RR) gave Honda three of the top four placings.

Charpentier was once more at his absolute zenith all weekend, dominating qualifying for long periods before a close fight with Curtain – replicated somewhat on raceday – saw him take his fifth straight pole. He was effusive in his post race comments.

“What can I say except that everything was fantastic for me. It was the best weekend possible, with pole position, fastest lap and also another win. Kevin rode very well but I always felt comfortable and in control. Although it was a long, hard race, I am in good physical condition and the bike was also great. I am so happy with the atmosphere in the pit garage – the whole team makes me laugh and I never feel any pressure from my team manager Ronald Ten Kate. On top of that the CBR is just perfect, so I really think this is the best situation I have ever raced in.”

Kevin Curtain said after the race, “I’m happy to take second today.” “Sebastien and me had a big gap over the third placed rider and our plans was always that if the grip started to go then I would settle for second and not risk throwing it in the gravel trap – that’s not how you win championships. I’d really like to thank my team this weekend because they’ve worked really well and the bike was the best it has been all season and I hope we can find a little bit more in Misano.”

Foret, across the line third despite a scare when he was excluded then re-instated in the post-race results for an underweight machine, knew a podium was a valuable finish for him and his team.

“I’m happy today. I have taken the second podium of the season and I liked it so much when I arrived in front of my group. I tried to stay with Sebastien and Kevin but today they were fastest and so I made sure of the podium by defending against Fabrizio and Chambon with a good last few laps. We must work so hard from here to the Misano round, because we can arrive at the level of Winston Ten Kate. We are not so far but I hope that during the Italian round the situation will be better.”

Fujiwara had a tough day at the short 3.561km International circuit at Silverstone; it’s busy nature and changes of direction not helping his cause when he experienced gearshifting problems. “I am very disappointed with that result, of course. I hurt my shoulder in the crash yesterday but after a good massage this morning it didn’t feel too bad until after the race. My start wasn’t so good from sixth on the grid, but I had a gear shifting problem and found it difficult to select the right gear – which made it very hard.”

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