Day 1: LEARNING DAY FOR WINSTON TEN KATE HONDA

Winston Ten Kate Honda riders Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge used today's test day in Doha, Qatar to run their 2005 CBR1000RRs in fine weather for the first time and to learn the Losail circuit, which will stage its first World Superbike event next weekend.

There was a lot of work for the team and rider to do at the beginning of the day, as this was their first proper, dry test day. In the afternoon session the team found a good direction with the settings and made a step forward.

Muggas ended the day sixth fastest but lost the front shortly before the end of the afternoon session, sliding off uninjured on the fast right-handed turn 12.

"I like the circuit," he said, "but I'm not here to break any records. I'm just taking it slowly learning a little more about the bike and the circuit each time I go out. We've got plenty of track time before the race next Saturday, and hopefully that's when everything will come together."

A further day of official testing will take place tomorrow, before practice and qualifying for the first round of the 2005 championship begins on Thursday 24 February.

Day2: Winston Ten Kate Honda Riders caught the Flu

Both Ten Kate riders couldn't perform the second day of the Qatar test to their full potential as they both caught the flu. Muggas even sat out the first morning practice as he felt unable to concentrate enough to get a few laps with significant information done.

However after a good rest in the morning and a visit to the mobile clinic Muggas gave it a go in the afternoon and tried out a couple different shock absorbers and tyres. He improved his yesterday time by 0.5 seconds however today's track time wasn't enough to keep his top ten position.

Muggas comments: "It was pretty tough this morning, but I got some good work done in the afternoon, and I feel confident that we could have improved my time a fair bit if we didn't run out of minutes at the end. Anyway, I will get some good rest over the next couple of days, to get ready for the first round here in Qatar. In the first practice session, we will try to do a bit of work on the forks and see if we can get the CBR handling a bit better"