Dutch World Superbikes: Honda double reduces Suzuki lead

Winston Ten Kate Honda’s Chris Vermeulen achieved his second World Superbike double by winning both races in this afternoon’s ninth round at Assen in Holland. The Australian enjoyed a fierce on-track battle with Japan’s Noriyuki Haga, who finished second in the 16-lap race ahead of British rider James Toseland. Toseland and Haga shared the podium in the first race, and runaway series leader Troy Corser finished fourth in both races having his worst weekend of the season. Now the only rider with a mathematical possibility of stopping Corser from winning the championship, Vermeulen trails Corser by 86 points with three rounds (six races) and 150 points still up for grabs. Vermeulen paid tribute to the team’s effort and his opponents, and refuses to believe that he cannot catch championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki). “James and Nori made me work for it today, but it's a great weekend for the team, and we took a good double,” said Vermeulen. “From half season onwards we started to get some results and there are six races left. Troy still has a big lead, but I will be trying my best to pull it back.”

Starting from pole position, Vermeulen found himself in seventh place at the start of the race but fought his way past the leading riders to take the lead on lap eight. Haga had other ideas, however, and grabbed the lead back from Vermeulen with three laps to go but had to settle for second place after a bold passing manoeuvre from the Winston rider on the penultimate lap.

Vermeulen commented after the second race, “Yeah, that feels pretty good. I’m really happy for the whole team who worked so hard this weekend and wrapped up the World Supersport championship here today. It’s fantastic to do my first double of the year in front of the Dutch crowd and all the team’s guests. That second race was much harder than the first though – I didn’t help myself at the start by nearly running off the track at turn one but I couldn’t fault the bike today because it just felt great. Nori (Haga) rode a fantastic race this afternoon and it’s always great fun battling with him – always really close but we never touch. I managed to close the gap a little on Troy (Corser) today but he’s still a long way ahead, so I need two more wins next weekend.”

For the ten Kate Team, the weekend was quite a triumph, with the team’s World Supersport rider Sebastien Charpentier winning the title by finishing second in the Supersport race, and Vermeulen’s double topping it off at the Dutch-based team’s home Grand Prix. A function for 500 guests is planned for this evening, so celebrations will definitely be in order.

“The blue colours of our sponsor, Winston, and the WinWin logo were especially accurate today and Chris’s double is the icing on the cake of our World Supersport championship win here at Assen,” said team manager Ronald ten Kate. “But I think the real winners here today were the crowd who enjoyed some really spectacular racing. Haga was all over Chris at times in that race but Chris managed to find something extra at the end for our first double of the season. It’s a pity for Karl who had some more problems in race two but we enjoyed a good test at Lausitzring recently so I hope we can find something for him there. It’s a bit of a dream to have a day like this at our home round but we have to concentrate on Lausitzring next weekend. The championship is still a possibility for Chris and, after a couple of beers tonight, we’ll be back at work tomorrow.”

Though Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Troy Corser continues to hold a healthy lead in the Championship despite a missing the podium for the first time this season at today’s ninth round at Assen in Holland, he was not too disappointed: “Today was a bit frustrating really, but I suppose if you had to have an off weekend, this one was not too bad. All weekend we’ve had problems with wheelspin and yesterday afternoon we changed an engine and that affected the set-up of the bike. Perhaps we lost our way a little then, but in the morning warm-up today things were pretty good, so we thought we’d be ok. But in both races I had problems with wheelspin and I couldn’t get on the gas unless the bike was more or less upright. That cost me a lot of time each lap - enough for me not to be able to stay with the leaders. I pushed the front as hard as I’ve ever pushed it - any more and I would’ve crashed - but at least we got a couple of fourths. I would have liked to have left Assen with a few more points in the bag but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Right on the pace from the start of the weekend, 24-year-old Toseland held the flag high for the factory Ducati Xerox Team after team-mate Régis Laconi was forced to miss this weekend’s ninth round of the championship due to his high-side on Friday.

Starting from second on the grid, the reigning world champion was involved in a thrilling five-rider battle in the early stages of the first race. Toseland then fought for the runner-up slot with Haga (Yamaha), eventually getting the better of his Japanese rival in the final couple of laps.

“That was hard work, it was a great battle and I’m sure it was exciting to watch” Toseland said. “I always enjoy racing with Nori, we did the same here last year. I knew I could do a good race after Friday and Saturday and I’m just happy to be back on the podium after the disappointment of the last few weeks”.

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