Valencia: Ten Kate Honda race notes

Podium finish for Ten Kate Honda.

Ten Kate Honda enjoyed a great start to the 2003 World Supersport championship with Chris Vermeulen finishing a hard-fought race in second place.

Vermeulen led the race for 14 of the 23 laps but had to settle for second after Katsuaki Fujiwara squeezed by on lap 19.

"While I'd obviously prefer a win anytime, I'm very happy with the result," said a smiling Vermeulen after the race. "It's great to get the season off to such a good start and nobody wins every race. My team has worked really hard to make the new CBR600RR instantly competitive, and I'm sure there's yet more to come."

Team mate Karl Muggeridge had to settle for sixth after being second placed early in the race. "At the start it felt really good, but when Chris got by me we just touched and I lost the tow and fell back into the second group," said Muggeridge. "I tried a bit too hard to make up the ground and made a couple of little mistakes. But the bike feels really competitive and I'm looking forward to the next race back in home in Australia."

While he would also have preferred a win, team manager Ronald ten Kate was smiling after the race, "To have two riders in the first six at the first race with a brand-new bike shows just how good the package of Honda, Pirelli and WP is, and things will only get better as we get more track time on the bike."

World Supersport Championship Valencia, 2 March, 2003

Race result and best lap times:
1. K. Fujiwara, JPN, Suzuki, 1'39.140
2. C Vermeulen, AUS, Ten Kate Honda, 1'38.908
3. A Corradi, ITA, Yamaha, 1'38.874
4. C Cogan, FRA, Honda, 1'39.299
5. J Teuchert, GER, Yamaha, 1'39.167
6. K Muggeridge, AUS, Ten Kate Honda, 1'39.146
7. B Parkes, AUS, Honda, 1'39.417
8. C Kellner, GER, Yamaha, 1'39.404
9. J VD Goorbergh, NED, 1'38.952
10. W Daemen, BEL, Van Zon Honda TKR, 1'39.247

-tkh-