Round nine - Assen, Holland (2-4 September 2005)

VERMEULEN AND MUGGERIDGE AIMING FOR 'HOME' SUCCESS

The 2005 World Superbike championship resumes this weekend at Assen in Holland,
one of the most popular events on the SBK calendar and the home race for the
Winston Ten Kate Honda team that is based just to the south of the historic
racing venue.

Winston riders, Chris Vermeulen and Karl Muggeridge, are looking forward to
putting in some strong performances over the weekend in front of some 900 team
sponsors and guests. The Australian duo, currently lying in second and eleventh
places in the series respectively, will be watched along with the rest of team
in the Winston Ten Kate Honda garage from a specially-constructed viewing
platform.

Ronald ten Kate - team manager:

"The home round for the team will also be like a home round for Chris and Karl
since they have been with us for such a long time now. Chris won at Assen last
year after an epic battle with James Toseland so, with our track knowledge,
we'll be hoping at least for similar results this weekend. The track has been
changed but the majority of the corners are the same so I don't think it will
take the riders very long to get used to the new layout. They've seen the
problems that the changes have created from the MotoGP race there earlier in the
year so they'll know how to approach it."

Chris Vermeulen - championship position 2nd, 234 points:

"I like Assen and I've had some success there in the past with a win and a
fourth in Superbike last year and pole position in Supersport in 2002 and 2003.
The track's good but I'm a little worried about the changes they've made - I
think it takes away some of the character of the place which has hosted world
championship racing for such a long time. It should still be fast and flowing
though, which suits my style and the bike's so I'm looking forward to going back
there. We need to get the bike working a little better to beat Troy (Corser) but
we all know that we have the potential. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't
be going for eight wins from the remaining eight races but it's going to be
tough to stop Troy with the points lead that he has. Assen is going to be a
really important event for the team, who have a lot of guests coming over the
weekend, so I'll be trying to put on a good show for everyone with some strong
performances."

Karl Muggeridge - championship position 11th, 85 points:

"Although I haven't raced the Superbike there, I think Assen will suit the bike.
It seems that the faster and more flowing the circuit, the better we can get the
bike working. It's difficult to compare with Chris's results from last year but
at least we should have a good base setting to start from - something we were
lacking a little at the beginning of the season. I like all the circuits but I
think I'm at last learning what we need to get the bike working properly. I was
up there at Brands Hatch, making the kind of progress we've been trying to
achieve all season. Starting from second on the grid was good but we're still
learning about getting the bike to work over race distance. We certainly learned
some in race one at Brands and softened it up a bit for race two but then I
messed up and crashed on the second lap. My hand is a lot better after a three
week rest though, and I'm in good shape, so looking forward to Assen and to
putting in a couple of good results for the team."

Championship points after eight of 12 rounds:

 1 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki)                     344
 2 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 234
 3 Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati)                    214
 4 Yukio Kagayama JPN (Suzuki)                  172
 5 Noryuki Haga JPN (Yamaha)                    167
 6 James Toseland GBR (Ducati)                  161
 7 Chris Walker GBR (Kawasaki)                  130
 8 Pierfrancesco Chili ITA (Honda)              111
 9 Andrew Pitt AUS (Yamaha)                      95
10 Norick Abe JPN (Yamaha)                       88
11 Karl Muggeridge AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda)  85

Assen World Superbike event schedule:

Friday   2 September - 10.30-11.30 free practice
                       14.15-15.15 qualifying
Saturday 3 September - 11.00-12.00 qualifying
                       14.45-15.45 free practice
                       16.00 Superpole
Sunday   4 September - 09.20-09.40 warm-up
                       12.00 race one (16 laps - 95.952km)
                       15.30 race two (16 laps - 95.952km)