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[Andy]

World Supersport and Superbike Championships 2007
Round 5, Assen – Netherlands

Spectator Attendance: 70,500 all weekend
Weather: Air 19°C, ground 30°C

Assen Race Report

27 April - 29 April 2007

World Supersport Round 5 of 13

SOFUOGLU ONCE MORE THE YOUNG DUTCH MASTER

Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda
CBR600RR) continued his remarkable 2007 season
with another impressive win in the Supersport
class, despite having to fight hard at some
stages of the race. Once more he proved to have
the advantage over full distance, leading 17 of
the 21 laps. His latest race win, the fourth in
five attempts this year, now puts him on a points
total of 120, 53 points ahead of his nearest
competitor Fabien Foret, who was third today.

Just to make his weekend perfect, after taking
pole on Saturday, Kenan also left Assen with the
new lap record, 1’42.096, to go with his new
Supersport track best of 1’41.144 seconds in
qualifying. Honda has a 43-point lead in the
Manufacturers’ Championship now, after only five of 13 rounds.

Andrew Pitt (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR)
was once more the perfect riding partner to help
Sofuoglu’s championship push, finishing second in
the race after qualifying seventh on Saturday. He
is now fourth overall, having scored two second places in two races.

Reigning champion Sebastien Charpentier
(Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) was back in
race action and played a major part in the early
race and qualifying, until he had to slip back
due to fatigue, ending his day sixth.

Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda Team CBR600RR)
was rammed out of contention for points once
more, but is still third in the series. His
team-mate Lorenzo Alfonsi (Althea Honda Team
CBR600RR) earned an 11th place in the race, after
a lowly qualifying result saw him start from row five.

Sofuoglu’s season continues to dazzle and the
runaway leader gave was particularly pleased to
have won again in his Ten Kate team’s home country.

“To get pole position yesterday was good, but
most of the fast riders are back so I knew it
would be a lot harder this weekend,” said
Sofuoglu. “I was expecting this race to be a
difficult. I told myself in the beginning not to
go hard straight away. I gave myself a chance to
see who was coming up behind me and then I knew
when to push a bit more. When I knew the riders
were closing in behind me I thought ‘OK, now I
will go’, and pushed hard to open up the gap. I
did my fastest lap time on lap 15 so I’m really
pleased with that. This is just such a good
result – I got my first race win here at Assen
and with it being the home track for the Ten Kate
team, it is even more special – it just couldn’t
have been any better for me today.”

Pitt was once more delighted to be part of a team
that allowed him to push from first to last, and
he heaped praise on his team-mate Sofuoglu.

“I’m really pleased - what a great result for the
team and a great day overall,” said Pitt. “It was
a tough race; I had a really good rhythm at the
start so I just tried to keep up at the front.
Kenan’s riding really well at the moment and I
had a great time racing with him. I made him work
for it a bit today; it wasn’t so easy for him as
in Valencia! I’m happy to be on the podium again
and happy to be able to help the team out again.”

Charpentier was in superb form for most of the
race but his physical condition determined how
his raceday would finally turn out, after
qualifying second fastest on Saturday. He is now 14th in the championship.

“Again after injury I have no power in my body,”
said Sebastien. “I had to ride my bike in the
race holding on with my fingers and it was
impossible for me to stay in the leading group.
My body just said no after a while. I think I got
the maximum we could today but I feel for
everyone in the team who works so hard to give me a good bike.”

Fujiwara retains third in the championship, on an
unchanged 43 points, despite his enforced crash
on the opening lap, the second one in as many
race weekends. He had qualified eighth, and was confident in his race set-up.

“I was on the outside, on the right line and when
I closed the gas to turn another rider just
rammed me from the back,” said Fujiwara
afterwards. “It was Impossible! It was a really
big crash but all I have is a large abrasion on
my right leg. I was stuck between the two bikes
as we ran off track, so I was unlucky to crash -
but I was incredibly lucky not have worse injury.
I am still third, so that is very important.”

Alfonsi’s Sunday was an improvement on his qualifying position of 18th.

“I had a normal start, we did a very good job on
the bike with the mechanics and we chose very
good tyres,” said Alfonsi. “I had a good
performance all race and I was 11th at the end.
Not so bad and we are developing step-by-step.”

World Superbike Round 5 of 13

TOSELAND EXTENDS CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD WITH FIFTH WIN

James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda
CBR1000RR) maintained his record of winning a
race in every round of the SBK championship so
far and only missed out on his first ever double
win by 0.009 seconds, after a hard-fought battle
with eventual winner Troy Bayliss in race two. He
had set pole position for the first time this
year, with a new record of 1’38.603 seconds in Superpole.

The points he earned for second place nonetheless
put him further in front in the championship
fight, with Toseland on 196 points and Biaggi on
164 - a difference of 32. The same points
separate Honda from Ducati at the top of the Manufacturers’ Championship

In the first race, Toseland looked to be able to
make one of his now trademarked escapes at the
front, but the pace of the riders behind was such
that he came back into the leading group for a
time, before finally hitting the lead on the 10th
lap and staying there until the flag, maintaining
a pace no others could match over 22-laps.

In the second 22-lap contest, another race with
many potential winners came down to a classic
Assen man-to-man fight, with Toseland and Bayliss
locked together, swapping the lead on the final
lap but with Toseland in control into the final
chicane. He went into the first part deep, to
cover a possible attack by Bayliss, and Bayliss
got better drive on the exit, beating James into
second by only nine-thousandths of a second.

Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda
CBR1000RR), 11th in Superpole, improved his
set-up after posting ninth in race one, to take a
best ever result of fifth in race two, mastering
a group of riders which numbered up to seven in
some periods of the race. Rolfo is now ninth
overall, on 64 points, making him second highest placed Honda rider.

A similar improvement from race one to race two
saw Michel Fabrizio (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR)
12th in race one, but only just behind Rolfo in
race two, taking sixth place. For a rider on row
four after finishing last in Superpole, he was
justifiably boosted by his raceday recovery,
especially after troubles in race one. He sits
11th, equal on points with Rolfo.

A disappointing day at Assen saw Joshua Brookes
(Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR), who was 14th on
the grid, finish only one race, and his team-mate
Karl Muggeridge (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR)
was stopped by technical issues, in each race, having qualified 9th.

Toseland has been on superb form all year, and
despite his front running, a win, and strong
points scores in each race, he wanted to secure his first ever double win.

“I have mixed feelings today,” said Toseland. “I
am gutted that I couldn’t get the double win for
the team at their home race. I was pushing so
hard out there but Troy Bayliss is a tough man to
beat and he just wasn’t going to let that go. I
made a mistake on that last chicane and went too
deep on the brakes, and he just got past me. Fair
play to the man – that was an incredible race.
Anyway, I have two more podiums under my belt,
plus another race win and I am still leading the
standings so I can’t really complain. I’m going
to keep trying though – I want to get that double before the end of the year!”

Rolfo’s weekend ended on a positive note after
some tough times in pre-Superpole qualifying
because in race two he found a breakthrough with machine set-up.

“I changed a few things after race one because I
had a good pace until he middle of the race and
then it destroyed the front tyre,” said Rolfo.
“But I was happy and I knew would do better in
the second race. I could push hard from lap
seven, as it was too hard to ride fast with a
full tank of fuel before that. After those laps I
could ride consistently fast and I am happy. This
was the first time I really found a good feeling
with the bike and we will start from here to
improve. And it was a good fight in the second race.”

Fabrizio encountered some problems in race one on
raceday but was pleased to be fighting for a top five finish in race two.

“In race one I clashed with another rider and the
impact almost ripped my boot off,” said the young
Roman rider. “I had to run the entire race with
my boot almost coming off and with some worries
about the clutch. In race two things were much
better and I had a great set-up and a good choice
of tyres, so I could really race. I am maybe
unhappy not to be fifth because I thought I could
beat Rolfo right at the end, but this is as much
as we could do with the bike this weekend. We rode at our top level.”

Brookes was understandably disappointed to
no-score in race one, but he recovered to take
points in the follow-up and he is now 15th overall.

“In the first race I was fading because of the
set-up and I started falling back almost straight
away, then the clutch started to slip,” said
Brookes. “For race two things were better but I
could not hold a good pace. But that was the best
I could do given the situation.”

Muggeridge left Assen with the same 14 point
total he had after Valencia, and is now 17th overall.

“It was disappointing to not finish the two races
because of technical problems but in race one the
bike just stopped running and in race two the
chain came loose and I had to stop,” said the
former World Supersport champion. “I thought I
could really get a good result in race two, and I
was hanging in with my group, well inside the top
ten, just waiting for the end to make a move.”

Round six of WSS and SBK will be held at Monza, Italy, on 11-13 May.


Results

SUPERSPORT:
RACE : (Laps 21 = 95,655 Km
Pos /Rider /Nat. /Team / Time /Gap
1 / SOFUOGLU / TUR / Hannspree Ten Kate Honda / 36'04.418 /
2 / PITT / AUS / Hannspree Ten Kate Honda / 36'08.461 / 4.043
3 / FORET / FRA / Team Gil Motor Sport / 36'09.897 / 5.479
4 / VENEMAN / NED / Pioneer Hoegee Suzuki Racing / 36'12.558 / 8.14 5 / SALOM / ESP / Yamaha Spain / 36'13.318 / 8.9 6 / CHARPENTIER / FRA / Hannspree Ten Kate Honda / 36'15.508 / 11.09 7 / CHECA / ESP / Yamaha - GMT 94 / 36'19.265 / 14.847 8 / KALLIO / FIN / Pioneer Hoegee Suzuki Racing / 36'23.963 / 19.545 9 / GIUGLIANO / ITA / Lightspeed Kawasaki Supp. / 36'24.298 / 19.88 10 / MARTIN / AUS / Yamaha World SSP Racing / 36'24.502 / 20.084 11 / ALFONSI / ITA / Althea Honda Team / 36'26.358 / 21.94 12 / RIBA / ESP / Team Gil Motor Sport / 36'31.210 / 26.792 13 / SANNA / ITA / Racing Team Parkalgar / 36'40.895 / 36.477 14 / ROCCOLI / ITA / Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni / 36'41.574 / 37.156 15 / VOS / NED / Hanns-G J&E Sport TKR / 36'43.877 / 39.459

Fastest Lap 15° Kenan Sofuoglu 1'42.096 160,614 Km/h
Lap record: 2006 K.Curtain 1'55.516 141,950 Km/h
Best Lap: 2007 K.Sofuoglu 1'41.144 162,130 Km/h

Riders Championship Standings:
1 SOFUOGLU 120, 2 FORET 67, 3 FUJIWARA 43, 4 PITT
40, 5 HARMS 39, 6 NANNELLI 30,
7 VENEMAN 30, 8 ROCCOLI 28, 9 PARKES 27, 10 SALOM
27, 11 RIBA 26, 12 CURTAIN 25,
13 JONES 25, 14 CHARPENTIER 23, 15 GIUGLIANO 21.



SUPERBIKE
Race 1 : (Laps 22 = 100,210 Km)
Pos / Rider / Nat. / Team / Time / Gap
1 / J. TOSELAND / GBR / Hannspree Ten Kate Honda / 37'02.097 / 2 / N.HAGA / JPN / Yamaha Motor Italia / 37'02.760 / 0.663 3 / R. XAUS / ESP / Team Sterilgarda / 37'05.795 / 3.698 4 / T. BAYLISS / AUS / Ducati Xerox Team / 37'09.231 / 7.134 5 / L. LANZI / ITA / Ducati Xerox Team / 37'11.409 / 9.312 6 / M.BIAGGI / ITA / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 37'11.631 / 9.534 7 / Y. KAGAYAMA / JPN / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 37'20.383 / 18.286 8 / F. NIETO / ESP / Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse / 37'20.500 / 18.403 9 / R. ROLFO / ITA / Hannspree Ten Kate Honda / 37'21.970 / 19.873 10 / M.NEUKIRCHNER / GER / Suzuki Germany / 37'25.011 / 22.914 11 / J. SMRZ / CZE / Team Caracchi Ducati SC / 37'31.699 / 29.602 12 / M.FABRIZIO / ITA / D.F.X. Corse / 37'43.058 / 40.961 13 / S. NAKATOMI / JPN / Yamaha YZF / 37'43.105 / 41.008 14 / D. ELLISON / GBR / Team Pedercini / 38'14.811 / 1'12.714 15 / M.SVOBODA / CZE / Yamaha Jr. Pro SBK Racing / 37'36.945 / 2 Laps

Fastest Lap 10° Troy Bayliss 1'39.906 164,134 Km/h


Race 2: (Laps 22 = 100,210 Km)
1 / T. BAYLISS / AUS / Ducati Xerox Team / 36'54.133 /
2 / J. TOSELAND / GBR / Hannspree Ten Kate Honda / 36'54.142 / 0.009 3 / M.BIAGGI / ITA / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 37'01.572 / 7.439 4 / T. CORSER / AUS / Yamaha Motor Italia / 37'06.512 / 12.379 5 / R. ROLFO / ITA / Hannspree Ten Kate Honda / 37'17.185 / 23.052 6 / M.FABRIZIO / ITA / D.F.X. Corse / 37'17.291 / 23.158 7 / M.NEUKIRCHNER / GER / Suzuki Germany / 37'17.444 / 23.311 8 / F. NIETO / ESP / Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse / 37'18.280 / 24.147 9 / J. SMRZ / CZE / Team Caracchi Ducati SC / 37'23.793 / 29.66 10 / R. LACONI / FRA / Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse / 37'26.434 / 32.301 11 / Y. KAGAYAMA / JPN / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 37'26.522 / 32.389 12 / S. NAKATOMI / JPN / Yamaha YZF / 37'33.224 / 39.091 13 / J. BROOKES / AUS / Alto Evolution Honda / 37'33.261 / 39.128 14 / L. MORELLI / ITA / Team Pedercini / 37'21.538 / 1 Lap 15 / M.SVOBODA / CZE / Yamaha Jr. Pro SBK Racing / 37'33.953 / 1 Lap

Fastest Lap 2° Noriyuki Haga 1'39.770 164,358 Km/h
Record Lap: 2007 T.Bayliss 1'39.906 164,130 Km/h
Best Lap: 2007 J.Toseland 1'38.603 166,300 Km/h

Riders Championship Standings:
1 TOSELAND 196, 2 BIAGGI 164, 3 HAGA 144, 4
BAYLISS 128, 5 CORSER 114, 6 XAUS 99,
7 LANZI 98, 8 NEUKIRCHNER 71, 9 ROLFO 64, 10
NIETO 46, 11 FABRIZIO 46, 12 LACONI 43,
13 KAGAYAMA 41, 14 SMRZ 37, 15 BROOKES 35.