Weather: overcast, 20° C
Track: dry, 24° C

MUGGAS ON PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW

Winston Ten Kate Honda's Karl Muggeridge took provisional front row with his fourth fastest time of this afternoon's opening qualifying session at round 8^th of the World Superbike Championship here at Brands Hatch in UK.

It was a very chaotic afternoon qualifying session after the wet or rather damp practice in the morning which cost the Winston team a lot of valuable set-up time. However they worked hard in the afternoon and tried to make up what they missed in the morning as good as possible.

Muggas comments: "Brands is pretty different on a Superbike, if it's not spinning its wheeling. the front is in the air all the way to the bridge on the back straight. I literally have to stand on the foot rest to push it down. The track also looks a lot skinner on the Superbike. We tried so many different settings this afternoon as the settings we had from the Lausitzring test didn't particularly work here. It was a really hectic session, but I know what I want, we just need to find a way to do it. At the moment I have to play a lot with the throttle to absorb the bumps but that's upsetting the bike. So I'm not very happy at the moment, we still got a fair bit to do tomorrow."

MUGGAS SET SECOND FASTEST TIME

2^nd Qualifying
Winston Ten Kate rider Karl Muggeridge qualified 9^th fastest for this afternoon's Superpole lap and wasn't quite a happy fellow with the handling of his CBR 1000. But as they tried so many things this morning they found some solutions to the problems and look forward to give them a go in the afternoon.

Karl comments: "We tried everything this morning from different shocks to different links, front settings and so on. a bit too much really, which cost me some confidence as the bike was different every time we went out. We found a better rear, in the afternoon practice we will try to work a bit on the front but mainly I got to get some laps under my belt. I only just managed to put a Q in and do one lap on it in the dying seconds of the sessions, where as it could be used for about three, which helps to get the time down.

Superpole:
Karl Muggeridge will start tomorrow's two eighth round World Superbike championship races at Brands Hatch in the UK from the front row of the grid after setting the second fastest time in this afternoon's Superpole event. Fellow Australian, Troy Corser, grabbed pole position by 0.161 seconds, with Brit James Toseland in third and his team-mate Laconi in fourth position.

After earlier struggling to find the right setting for his Superbike debut at the 4.2km Kent circuit, Muggeridge improved on his regulation qualifying position of ninth place in the one-lap Superpole shoot-out and also found a much better race setup in the afternoon's session for tomorrow's two 25 lap races.

Muggas comments: "We started the free practice session before the Superpole lap with a completely different bike and it felt so much better straight away. It was nice and fun to ride it, as for before it was handling like a wild animal. I was a bit to keen on the Superpole lap and had the gas open a bit too early, especially on the last corner. I really wanted pole position and made a mistake going for that important final drive to the line. The bike probably looked a bit out of shape but it was really my wrist! It's my best qualifying performance and we've made a jump forward with the bike. Brands Hatch is one of my favourite circuits so I'll be looking for two really good results tomorrow."

Ronald ten Kate - team manager:" After all the team's work and the riders' performances this weekend, I think we deserved two front row places. Karl made an excellent Superpole lap apart from a small mistake on the final corner, losing time that may have cost him his first pole position. We're quite happy with the race settings for both riders and I'm sure there will be two good battles out there tomorrow afternoon."
 

Weather: sunny R1  19°C, R2  °C
Track: dry, R1  25°C, R2 ,  °C

Muggas Sixth in Opener with a DNF in the Second

Race 1:
Winston Ten Kate Honda rider, Karl Muggeridge, finished in sixth position at the opening race of the 8^th round of the World Superbike Championship here at Brands Hatch in the UK.

Muggas bumped the start a little bit but still found himself second in the first corner in a tough fight with Corser and Haga. At the end of lap five Laconi made a bit a hard move on him an squezzed himself passed Muggas which cost him a bit of time. After about 15 laps Muggas rear grip dropped dramatically off and he didn't had a chance to get up any further on the lap sheet as his rear was spinning every where.

Ronald ten Kate - team manager:"The results are a little disappointing, for sure. Karl was doing very well in the first part of the race and underlining his qualifying position but his rear grip started to drop off five or six laps before the leading bunch. I'm sure that a couple of changes for the second race will see him move up in the results."

Muggas comments:"We haven't quite got the rear setting right and that's what caused the grip to drop off after around 15 laps. I was running pretty comfortably at the start but it's so difficult to pass anyone here and when I got passed by Laconi coming out of Clearways, it was hard to put a move back on him. I think we can make a little change to the rear to improve things for race two just to stop the rear spinning up so much."

Race 2:
In front of a typically large Brands Hatch crowd who watched five different manufacturers fill the first five positions, Winston Ten Kate Honda's Karl Muggeridge crashed out of third place on the second of 25 laps around the 4.2 km Kent circuit, breaking a small bone in his right hand.

Muggas got it checked out in the Clinic Mobile and they reckon it should heal pretty quick within the next ten to fourteen days. Nevertheless his quite disappointed as the bike was feeling really good in the second race and had so much more grip.

Ronald ten Kate - team manager:"That's bad luck for Karl who was doing well from second place on the grid and feeling good on the bike. I think that a podium was possible for him today and it would certainly have been deserved. We're looking forward to our home race at Assen in three weeks, where we'll be looking for some more success."

Karl Muggeridge comments:"I'm pretty upset with myself to be honest. Haga had just passed me on the inside at turn three and I was trying to square off the corner and get him back at the next one. I just gave it too much and the bike let go and spat me off. I think I tried to hold onto it a little too long because I've cracked a little bone in my hand. It's nothing too serious and should heal pretty well in a couple of weeks. It's such a shame because the changes we made to the bike after race one were spot on and it felt really sweet. I reckon I could have been on for a good result but I'll just have to try for that again at Assen."