round ten - Eurospeedway Lausitz, Germany
Qualifying practice - 9 September 2005

VERMEULEN ON PROVISIONAL POLE AT EUROSPEEDWAY

Chris Vermeulen followed up last weekend's double World Superbike championship
victory at Assen by taking provisional pole position this afternoon for Sunday's
two tenth round races at Eurospeedway Lausitz in Germany. The Winston Honda
rider lapped the 4.3km circuit in a time of 1m38.847s, two tenths faster than
fellow Australian and series leader, Troy Corser.

Vermeulen's Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Karl Muggeridge, set the fifth
fastest time in this afternoon's opening qualifying session to line up on the
outside of the provisional second row of the grid for Sunday's two 24-lap races;
but the 2004 World Supersport champion feels there is more to come tomorrow.

Ronald ten Kate - team manager:

"Yes, I'm very pleased with the progress we made here this afternoon. Towards
the end of that session, we expected Chris to drop a few places down the order
because he chose not to use a qualifier. So we put some fresh race rubber on the
bike and he was the only rider to lap under 1m40s. Of course, Karl is right up
there as well so we'll carry the progress made this afternoon into tomorrow when
we have some more things to try and, hopefully, some more dry sessions."

Chris Vermeulen - fastest, 1m39.847s

"I did a 40.1 on an old rear and a front that I don't particularly like so I
guess we're doing OK at the moment. Actually, the front is not so bad and the
bike is feeling pretty good. Everybody's working really hard together. We have
the same problem of lacking initial side grip and then rear grip as we exit the
corner, but it's definitely better than it has been. We made some changes after
this morning's free practice session and we'll find out more tomorrow about how
the tyres will last for the race. It's going to be hard on the brakes here and I
found I was having to make a lot of adjustments on the lever this afternoon."

Karl Muggeridge - fifth fastest, 1m40.155s

"I really messed up the first sector on that quicker lap so I know there's more
to come. It's going OK but there's definitely still some work to do. I feel
pretty comfortable, although there are a few dramas with the slipper clutch and
the way the bike is handling under braking. We haven't ticked any boxes yet but
the bike's definitely improved after our test here in July. Rear grip feels OK
at the moment but we'll try a new shock and linkage for tomorrow. As far as the
riding goes, the corners are all U-turns here so it's hard to avoid keeping the
bike on its side for too long but we'll try some new techniques tomorrow!"

World Superbike, Eurospeedway Lausitz - provisional qualifying times:

 1 Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda)  1m39.847s
 2 Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki)                      1:40.092
 3 Noriyuki Haga JPN (Yamaha)                    1:40.102
 4 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA (Ducati)                    1:40.144
 5 Karl Muggeridge AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda)  1:40.155
 6 Pierfrancesco Chili ITA (Honda)               1:40.249
 7 James Toseland GBR (Ducati)                   1:40.276
 8 Andrew Pitt AUS (Yamaha)                      1:40.417
 9 Max Neukirchner GER (Honda)                   1:40.669
 10 M Schulten GER (Honda)                       1:40.700