Subscription

Car Racing

Motorcycle Racing

Racing in Oz

Shop

2005 WORLD SUPERBIKE

• CHARPENTIER WINS 2005 WORLD SUPERSPORT TITLE

• 18th World Superbike Championship
• 6 manufacturers - Ducati, Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Petronas
• 12 round championship ; 30 riders per race
• First ever World Superbike race in Middle East (Qatar)
• season starts on 26 February, 2005 and finish 9 October, 2005
• WORLD SUPERBIKE GOES TO MIDDLE EAST
• BEN BOSTROM RETURNS    
• ABE & KAGAYAMA & NIETO JOIN WORLD SUPERBIKE

• R12, 9 October, 2005: Magny Cours, France
  Race 1: Vermeulen/Honda Race 2: Lanzi/Ducati

• R11, 2 October, 2005: Imola, Italy
  Race 1: Vermeulen/Honda Race 2: cancelled due to rain
  *** CORSER WINS WORLD SUPERBIKE TITLE ***

• R10, 11 September, 2005: Lausitzring, Germany
  Race 1: Vermeulen/Honda Race 2: Lanzi/Ducati

• R9, 4 September, 2005: Assen, Netherlands
  Race 1: Vermeulen/Honda Race 2: Vermeulen/Honda
  Superpole: Vermeulen/Honda *** his maiden WSBK pole ***
  *** CHARPENTIER WINS WORLD SUPERSPORT TITLE ***

• R8, 7 August, 2005: Brands Hatch, Great Britain
  Race 1: Corser/Suzuki Race 2: Haga/Yamaha
  Superpole: Corser/Suzuki

• R7, 17 July, 2005: Czech Republic
  Race 1: Corser/Suzuki Race 2: Haga/Yamaha
  Superpole: Corser/Suzuki

• R6, 26 June, 2005: San Marino
  Race 1: Laconi/Ducati Race 2: Laconi/Ducati
  Superpole: Corser/Suzuki

• R5, 29 May, 2005: Silverstone, UK
  Race 1: Laconi/Ducati Race 2: Toseland/Ducati
  Superpole: Kagayama/Suzuki ; WSS Race: 1 Charpentier

• R4, May 8, 2005: Monza, Italy
  Race 1: Corser/Suzuki Race 2: Vermeulen/Honda
  Superpole: Kagayama/Suzuki ; WSS Race: 1 Fujiwara

• R3, April 24, 2005: Spain
  Race 1: Corser/Suzuki Race 2: Corser/Suzuki
  Superpole: Corser/Suzuki ; WSS Race: 1 Charpentier

• R2, April 3, 2005: Australia
  Race 1: Corser/Suzuki Race 2: Corser/Suzuki
  Superpole: Kagayama/Suzuki; WSS Race: 1 Charpentier

• R1, February 26, 2005: Qatar
  Race 1: Corser/Suzuki Race 2: Kagayama/Suzuki
  Superpole: Laconi/Ducati; WSS Race: 1 Fujiwara/Honda

PRE-SEASON FINAL TEST, WORLD SUPERBIKES, FEB 20, 2005, Losail circuit, Qatar

• 1. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 2m 1.480
• 2. Troy Corser (Suzuki) 2m 1.554
• 3. Jose Luis Cardoso (Yamaha) 2m 1.797
• 4. Regis Laconi (Ducati)
• 5. Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha)
• 6. Ivan Silva Alberola (Yamaha)
• 7. Chris Walker (Kawasaki)
• 8. Marco Borciani (Yamaha)
• 9. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha)
• 10. James Toseland (Ducati)
• 11. Norifumi Abe (Yamaha) 12. Andrew Pitt (Yamaha)
• Regis Laconi (Ducati): "We worked very hard, the most important thing today was to have the durability in the front tyre and I am very happy with that after setting a good time on lap 17 of the long-run in the afternoon. We have to find a bit more speed now that we have durability, but the feeling is coming good and we made good progress from yesterday. Like everyone else we put a soft tyre on in the end and the lap time was good. We did a lot of testing but it's very nice to be fast at the finish. Now we have to wait and see what will happen on Saturday"
• Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha): "The track was quite slippery but not really any worse than I expected. So we should be OK. It was just common sense to make more time testing on the race tyre than use a qualifier because that only means a fast time today, not for the race."
• Norick Abe (Yamaha): "The level here is very tough. For me this was the first time to ride together with most of the other riders. Everybody is so close and it is not just the top riders who can go fast. This was a surprise. When I made a little improvement my position would go up, but when I was not able to make a good lap time I went down a lot! It was all so close in the top 15. We have tried a lot of different settings and at the end of today we found good ones. I could not use my qualifier properly as two riders got in the way so my best time was set on race tyres. But I made consistent fast laps on my race tyre."

FINAL TEST, WORLD SUPERSPORT, FEB 20, 2005, Losail circuit, Qatar

• 1. Sébastien Charpentier (Honda) 2m 4.259
• 2. Fabien Foret (Honda)
• 3. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha)
• 4. Michel Fabrizio (Honda)
• 5. Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati)
• 6. Stephane Chambon (Honda)
• 7. Broc Parkes (Yamaha)

• NEW RIDERS:
• Norick Abe from MotoGP makes his World Superbike debut
• Yukio Kagayama from British Superbikes makes his World Superbike debut
• Fonsi Nieto from 250ccGP makes his World Superbike debut
• Karl Muggeridge, 2004 world supersport champion moves up to World Superbike
• Ben Bostrom returns to World Superbikes from US Superbikes
• Lorenzo Lanzi moves up from Supersport to Superbikes with Ducati satellite team. He will ride a Ducati 999RS
  "... I am really pleased to have this new challenge, above all because I will have the same Supersport team of mechanics with me ... Once again I move up a category after a year, and for this reason it's not going to be easy, but I will be riding the 999RS, which is a very competitive bike, and we hope to get some good results."

RIDER / TEAM CHANGES:

• Warwick Nowland gone - he returned to World Endurance
• Troy Corser joins Suzuki factory team
  "... It's an all-new bike (GSX-R1000), but I don't look at 2005 as a learning year - I'm looking to take the title ... I know I have the ability to win and I expect to be holding the trophy at the end of the year"
• Garry McCoy joins Foggy Racing (3 cylinder, 900cc Petronas FP-1)
• Steve Martin joins Foggy Racing (3 cylinder, 900cc Petronas FP-1)

• 2004 STANDING, FINAL:
• 1 James Toseland, UK, DUCATI 999 F04, 336 points
  2 Laconi 327
  3 Haga 299
  4 Vermeulen 282
  5 Chili 243
  6 McCoy 7 Martin 8 Haslam 9 Corser 10 Borciani