World Superbike Championship - event preview
Round eight - Brands Hatch, GB (5-7 August 2005)

BRANDS HATCH BECKONS VERMEULEN AND MUGGERIDGE

The World Superbike championship heads to the 4.2km Brands Hatch circuit in the
UK this weekend for round eight of the series. Traditionally the biggest SBK
event on the calendar, Brands Hatch attracts large crowds to its unique and
undulating layout. Winston Ten Kate Honda's Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge
will be looking for solid results there after relative disappointment last time
out at Brno in the Czech Republic.

Following a successful, but rain-affected test at Lausitzring after the Brno
event, Vermeulen has his own challenge after his participation in the Suzuka
8-hour race last Sunday where he finished second with Winston Ten Kate Honda
World Supersport team-mate, Katsuaki Fujiwara. Muggeridge, meanwhile, fresh from
a summer break, is hoping for success at one of his favourite circuits.

Ronald ten Kate - team manager:

"After what you could call a set-back at Brno, we're obviously hoping for better
results from both riders this weekend at Brands Hatch. Our test at Lausitzring
proved to us that the Brno performance was an exception and that we are
continuing to improve the CBR1000RR, particularly in getting better grip and
durability on race tyres. Brands will be difficult for Chris, though, after
riding so much last weekend on the 8-hour machine and Michelin tyres; so I think
he'll just use Friday to put in a lot of laps to re-adjust to the Pirellis. Karl
is coming to the UK after a summer break, which is what he did in 2003 after a
difficult start to the season. He goes very well at Brands Hatch so hopefully
he'll be in good shape after his break to get the results he deserves."

Chris Vermeulen - championship position 2nd, 205 points:

"I'm feeling pretty pumped after the good result for me and Kats (Fujiwara) at
the Suzuka 8-hour. Now I have to make the switch back to my Ten Kate Honda,
which feels like a completely different machine to the full HRC bike I rode in
Japan on Michelin tyres. We had a good test at Lausitzring before going to the
8-hour, though, and made some more progress with the bike .There's a lot of work
to do in the championship and I have to be aiming at finishing in front of Troy
(Corser) to try and close the gap on him. But it's going to be tough because
I've never done well at Brands Hatch. I like the layout of the track but it's
dangerous in places. I'll have a lot of friends supporting me though, which will
be important because it's a big event and the British crowd will be cheering for
Walker and Toseland. But England is like my second home really so, as always,
I'll just be trying as hard as I can."

Karl Muggeridge - championship position 11th, 75 points:

"Our test at Lausitzring after the last round at Brno gave us the chance to do
some more work at finding grip and durability from the tyres in a race situation
and that should help us to move forward at Brands Hatch. We still need to find
something with the front of the bike but we know what we're looking for and
we'll use the first sessions at Brands to develop that. I got my first World
Supersport win at Brands Hatch and I won again there last year on my way to the
title, so I have good memories of the place. It's the biggest event on the
calendar but this my first time here on the Superbike so I'll do what I've been
doing all season and work steadily towards a good set-up for race day. I need a
couple of solid results here, so the team and I are going to be working really
hard to achieve that."

Championship points after seven of 12 rounds:

 1 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki)                      299
 2 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda)  205
 3 Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati)                     187
 4 Yukio Kagayama JPN (Suzuki)                   158
 5 James Toseland GBR (Ducati)                   152
 6 Noryuki Haga JPN (Yamaha)                     122
 7 Pierfrancesco Chili ITA (Honda)               108
 8 Chris Walker GBR (Kawasaki)                   106
 9 Norick Abe JPN (Yamaha)                        83
10 Andrew Pitt AUS (Yamaha)                       76
11 Karl Muggeridge AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda)   75

Brands Hatch World Superbike event schedule:

Friday 5 August -   10.30-11.30 free practice
                    14.15-15.15 qualifying
Saturday 6 August - 11.00-12.00 qualifying
                    14.45-15.45 free practice
                    16.00 Superpole
Sunday 7 August -   09.20-09.40 warm-up
                    12.00 race one (25 laps, 104.925km)
                    15.30 race two (25 laps, 104.925km)