James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) ended his Brands Hatch race weekend with a second and a fifth place finish, eliciting a standing ovation from his loyal fans after each 25-lap outing. His team-mate Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) suffered two falls and two no scores after qualifying on the front row, and while running strongly at the front.
In race one Toseland looked to be in with a chance of the win until the final few laps, when could not quite match the final race pace of winner Troy Bayliss. He fended off a hard charge from Noriyuki Haga to take a podium finish, in second place, earning 20-world championship points. A bright start for Muggeridge was ended abruptly when he fell on lap five.
In race two Toseland found his rear grip not equivalent to that in the first race and he lost ground - and eventually a podium place - as he finished a disappointed 5th. His second and fifth places mimic the results he achieved at Brno, in the previous round. Muggeridge experienced the same kind of crash that stopped him in race one. In the championship itself, Toseland is third, with Muggeridge now 15th.
Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager“The second race was rather disappointing for us. It had been a good weekend for James all weekend, with good qualifying and an excellent result in race one. We didn't really change anything in race two, we put the same tyres in because we had no problems at all in race one, and then all of a sudden we were in a different world. We will try to see what has caused that. But we are a little bit puzzled by that, because there was a lack of grip, and that is strange. I am sorry for him that we could not hand him a winning bike for his home round, but we have to get over it and move on to the next round, and the remaining ones. I feel sorry for Karl, it has been very tough for him, and we could see that he could have finished in the top positions, but in race two he hit the kerbstones again and there is really not much more to say about it.”
James Toseland - (Race 1: 2nd position - Race 2: 5th position - Championship Position: 3rd with 219 points)“In race one, when Troy and Noriyuki were battling hard in there, I was able to catch them. But near the end Troy put a good three or four laps in which were very strong, and it pulled a gap out, which was frustrating. I'm happy to be up on the podium at Brands Hatch for a change. In race two I just didn't have the same grip as in race one, and from about ten laps in I was struggling to keep the pace. I am really disappointed because I knew I could have got the best possible result, but it was great to take at least one podium in front of all these fans at Brands Hatch.”
Karl Muggeridge - (Race 1: DNF - Race 2: DNF - Championship Position: 15th with 66 points)“I'm really disappointed to have crashed twice in the same way when the bike hit the rumple strips. We all worked very hard this weekend so thanks to the team for making the bike go so well that we could qualify on the front row. I'm just looking to Assen now to make up for this raceday in the best way we can.”
Championship Standing:1. Bayliss - Ducati - 307 points
2. Haga - Yamaha - 230 points
3. Toseland - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 219 points
4. Corser - Suzuki - 193 points
5. Barros - Honda - 166 points
15. Muggeridge - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 66 points
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