Karl Muggeridge will be replacing injured Ruben Xaus in the final round at Portimao in Portugal.  Karl  rode for the team in the World Supersport and Superbike championships. The 37-year-old Australian first rode for Castrol Honda team principal, Gerrit ten Kate, in 1999 and won the World Supersport title in 2004 before graduating to the World Superbike championship.

Muggeridge rode a Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade to the 2010 German Superbike title and finished third in this year’s series.


Karl Muggeridge

Obviously, I’m sorry for Ruben because it’s never good to miss out through injury, especially the last round of the season. However, I hope I can bring something positive to the team to help the guys finish the year on a good note. I’ve got no pre-conceived ideas on where I should be over the weekend, so we’ll just take each session as it comes and try to make some steps forward in each one. I haven’t ridden at Portimao since the first race here in 2008 and the CBR that I’ve been riding in the German championship is a quite different bike to the current Castrol Honda version. So it’s a big task but one that I’m determined to make the most of.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager

So, we head into the last round of the season and it’s definitely one that we want to do well in to finish the year on a high note. Over the last two months, we’ve been constantly working to improve the current CBR machines so we’re looking forward to this opportunity to harvest something from all that effort. The speed that Jonathan has shown in the last two races has given us all confidence, so we’ll give it everything we’ve got over this Portimao weekend. Our sympathies go out to Ruben, who is forced to miss this final round after his big crash in France. However, it will be good to welcome Karl back into the team and we’re all looking forward to working with him again.

2011 World Superbike Championship, round 13, Portimao, Portugal – schedule (local times):

Friday 14 October
11.30    Free practice (60 min)
15.30    Qualifying practice (60 min)
Saturday 15 October
10.45    Qualifying practice (45 min)
13.45    Free practice (45 min)
15.00    Superpole 1 (14 min)
15.21    Superpole 2 (12 min)
15.40    Superpole 3 (10 min)
Sunday 16 October
09.20    Warm-up (15 min)
12.00    Race 1 (22 laps – 101.024km)
15.30    Race 2 (22 laps – 101.024km)