2005 World Superbike championship, round six - Misano, Italy
Race one - Sunday, 26 June 2005

VERMEULEN SECOND IN HOT MISANO OPENER

Winston Ten Kate Honda's Chris Vermeulen finished second in an eventful,
two-part opening race of the World Superbike championship sixth round at Misano,
Italy today. The race was won by French rider Regis Laconi, after a red flag on
lap six was followed by an aborted re-start.

After leading the second part of the 24-lapper around the 4.060km Misano
circuit, Vermeulen and Muggeridge were separated by Laconi after three laps,
following which, grip problems forced Vermeulen to conserve his tyres as well as
he could. Muggeridge eventually finished in tenth place.

Ronald ten Kate - team manager:

"That was a hectic start to the race with a red flag early on and then the
aborted re-start. It was certainly hard for the team in these hot conditions and
unsettling for all the riders. It was a strong podium from Chris though, which
helps his championship position. In the difficult conditions today, it was a top
job, I think. Karl developed a bit of a stomach problem yesterday and it's a
little worse today and has left him with little energy. But we'll try hard to
search for some more grip in race two."

Chris Vermeulen - second

"I hope they reduce the second race to twenty laps because everyone is really
struggling out there! It's not the heat because physically I'm not too bad. It's
just that it makes the track so slippery that there was virtually no grip at all
towards the end of the race. I tried to look after my tyres as much as possible
but, talking to the other riders on the podium, it seems everyone was suffering
from the same problems. We can ride around some problems but, when there's no
grip, you can't really compensate."

Karl Muggeridge - tenth

"A lot of problems, really - I'm not feeling so great with this stomach problem
that just left me with no energy after seven or eight laps. On top of the other
problems that everyone else seems to have, it was just really, really hard work.
We make a couple of small changes for race two and I hope I'll just feel a bit
stronger."

World Superbike, Misano - race one results (24 laps, 97.44kms):

 1 Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati)                     39m07.157s
 2 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda)     +4.439s
 3 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki)                         + 8.043
 4 James Toseland GBR (Ducati)                      +10.198
 5 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA (Ducati)                       +14.105
 6 Noryuki Haga JPN (Yamaha)                        +16.841
 7 Pierfrancesco Chili ITA (Honda)                  +18.000
 8 Chris Walker GBR (Kawasaki)                      +20.110
 9 Fonsi Nieto ESP (Ducati)                         +21.468
10 Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda)         +22.590