World Superbike

Ten Kate Honda Friday qualifying report

WSS Ten Kate Honda: Muggeridge and Vermeulen get to work at Silverstone Ten Kate Honda riders Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge got straight down to work at the sixth round of the World Supersport championship at Silverstone. Both riders spent ...

Published: Jun 13, 2003, 7:28 PM

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WSS Ten Kate Honda: Muggeridge and Vermeulen get to work at Silverstone

Ten Kate Honda riders Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge got straight down to work at the sixth round of the World Supersport championship at Silverstone.

Both riders spent most of the session experimenting with set ups and learning the new chicane that's been added to the track before the main straight. Many riders have struggled to come to terms with the very tight hairpin and Muggeridge and Vermeulen both found the new turn -- and the many bumps on the Silverstone circuit, presented a big challenge for setting up the machine.

"I spent most of this morning's free session running in new brake discs," said Vermeulen, who leads the championship by a massive 38-point margin. "Then in qualifying I had to go out on my number two bike just to get it sorted. Then I got back onto my main bike and slotted in a qualifying tyre for a fast lap. Unfortunately there'd been a massive crash that left oil, grass and bikes all over the place and my lap was wasted." The incident left Vermeulen down in seventh.

His team mate Muggeridge had got on the pace a bit earlier in qualifying, spending most of the session fighting with Stephane Chambon for provisional pole. The same incident that put and end to Vermeulen's qualifying charge also thwarted Muggeridge when he fitted a qualifying tyre to go out and try and depose Chambon from the top of the timesheets.

"The session had gone really well up to that point," said Muggeridge. "We'd been working our way through some set up issues and were definitely going in the right direction, but when I went out for my final flying lap a big crash blocked the track and put paid to any chance of making a good time."

The Ten Kate Honda team have grown used to very high standards, usually with both riders on their CBR600RRs on the front row. But despite seeing his riders in second and seventh after the first qualifying, team manager Ronald ten Kate was unconcerned.

"We've been working hard today to get a set up that copes with the challenges this circuit provides," said ten Kate. "It is fast in some sections, bumpy in parts and it now has an incredibly tight chicane -- a difficult mix to deal with. But the team, the riders, Pirelli Tyres and WP Suspension have worked extremely hard today to get the Honda CBR600RR running and handling really well. Without the last minute incident that effectively ended the qualifying session I reckon we would have gone one-two. But tomorrow's another day and we're confident we can improve on at least Chris' position, if not both riders."

World Supersport Championship
Round six, Silverstone, 13-14-15 June 2003

First Qualifying, best times:
1. S Chambon, FRA, Suzuki, 1'57.354
2. K Muggeridge, AUS, Ten Kate Honda, 1'57.432
3. B Parkes, AUS, Honda, 1'57.487
4. T VD Bosch, FRA, Yamaha, 1'57.580
5. S Sanna, ITA, Yamaha, 1'57.584
6. P Riba, ESP, Kawasaki, 1'57.775
7. C Vermeulen, AUS, Ten Kate Honda, 1'57.806
8. A Corradi, ITA, Yamaha, 1'58.071
9. R Ulm, AUT, Honda, 1'58.079
10. I MacPherson, GBR, Van Zon Honda TKR, 1'58.116

13 W Daemen, BEL, Van Zon Honda TKR, 1'58.281

-tkh-

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