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SBK Phillip Island: second round beckons for Honda riders

In SBK

28 febbraio 2008

The dust from the Qatar World Superbike round had not settled before Honda's nine World Superbike riders were on the move again, heading to Phillip Island Australia for the second round of the 2008 Championship season on Sunday March 2.

Honda's CBR1000RR riders, some on the 2008 model and some still riding the 2007 version until they can spend more development time with their new machines, had mixed fortunes at Qatar, but all learned much from their first races of the year. As a group they will be aiming to turn these lessons into improved results come the second round of the season on Sunday 2 March.

Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) was the highest aggregate scorer in Honda colours at Losail, earning 15 points and an overall eighth position on the all-new 2008 CBR1000RR, in what was his first ever World Superbike event.

All three of the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda riders this year, including Checa's direct team-mate Ryuichi Kiyonari (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) and talented Junior Team rider Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR Jr) are full season rookies in WSB racing; making last weekend a tough test for the trio in one of the most competitive WSB grids for years.

The experience Sofuoglu now has of the World Superbike circuits, gained on his way to becoming 2007 World Supersport Champion for Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, played some part in his impressive race two top ten at Losail last week. He sits 10th equal in the standings, with 10 points.

For double British Champion Kiyonari, the first weekend was particularly difficult, but the Japanese star now the perfect opportunity to prove that first day nerves have been washed away, and that he will be in a position to score points in both Australian races.

With limited testing time available to him on his 2008 Fireblade before the Qatar season opener, Roberto Rolfo (Hannspree Althea Honda CBR1000RR) almost had to treat qualifying as final test session. Despite some misfortune in race two, he got on the scoreboard twice, in a field of 28 riders, last weekend.

Gregorio Lavilla (Vent Axia VK Honda CBR1000RR) is the only other Honda rider on the scoreboard thus far, the former WSB regular and 2005 British Superbike Champion posting a strong return to WSB action at Qatar, despite having a machine set-up and tyre choice mismatch in both 18-lap races. He obtained results of 13th and 14th in Qatar, and thus enters Phillip Island - a circuit he loves - 15th in the standings, with five points.

Shuhei Aoyama (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR) and his team-mate Luca Morelli (Alto Evolution Honda CBR1000RR), are hoping Phillip Island will see a change in their early season fortunes. Aoyama is an absolute class rookie and as such had a steady weekend on the 2007 machine in Losail qualifying and racing, while Morelli was unable to finish either race.

Australians Karl Muggeridge (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) and Russell Holland (DFX Corse Honda CBR1000RR) approach their home round from vastly different standpoints in terms of WSB experience. Holland had his first two WSB races last weekend, while Muggeridge, 2004 World Supersport Champion for Honda, completed his 68th SBK race at Qatar.

After the Phillip Island race the championship contenders move on to Valencia in Spain, firstly for an official FGSport test between 13 and 14 March, and then for round three of the championship on April 6.

Carlos Checa said: "It will be the first time for our Superbikes at Phillip Island, as we missed out on the test earlier this year. It will be important for us to work with the right tyres and not just do one fast lap in qualifying. We need to find a tyre that is consistent throughout the whole race so we can close the gap to the riders at the front. The new bike is handling a lot better then last year's bike already; I am happy with the chassis and confident that we can succeed."

Ryuichi Kiyonari commented: "Now I must try hard for Phillip Island. I have raced there before but it was a long time ago and I don't remember it so much. Hopefully it will be OK and better for the new machine."

Kenan Sofuoglu said: "For sure Phillip Island will be another hard weekend because every track I go to I have start again from zero. I think every weekend will be difficult for me but as we showed in Qatar I will improve throughout the three days. I think the Phillip Island track will be even more physical but at least I have some experience now with the Superbike. I am too tense at the moment, not riding easily and I am still using too much of a Supersport style with high corner speeds, which uses the front tyre up too much. I think Friday will be hard at Phillip Island but I think that by Sunday we should be able to get around the top ten again."

Roberto Rolfo said: "Qatar was our first race with the new bike and we learned a lot about it. We'll use that knowledge when we get to Australia. I could fight with other riders in Qatar and the technical staff have already done a great job with the bike. That gives me confidence that we can improve even more this weekend."