round 11
Imola, Italy - Sunday, 2 October 2005

WINSTON'S VERMEULEN CONCEDES CHAMPIONSHIP IN IMOLA DELUGE

Winston Ten Kate Honda rider, Chris Vermeulen, had to concede defeat in the 2005
World Superbike championship this afternoon after the second of today's two
eleventh round at Imola in Italy was cancelled for safety reasons.

Although the riders had formed on the grid for the second of the two 21-lap
races around the 4.9km Imola circuit, heavy rain continued to fall and the grid
was cleared following the warm-up lap. After an hour's deliberation, during
which rain continued to fall, race control finally cancelled the event, handing
the 2005 title to Troy Corser, who has a 55 point lead in the series with just
two races remaining.

Ronald ten Kate - team manager:

"It's a very strange and disappointing way to lose the championship, after Chris
had won the first race today and three of the previous four races. We respect
the decision of race control because, at the end of the day, the safety of
riders is more important than any championship. On the other hand, we're very
sad to see Chris's chance of winning the title going down the drain like this.
Once again, Imola has been our Waterloo but we'll hope for some dry conditions
next weekend in Magny-Cours, when we hope we can show our true potential again.
For now, we send our congratulations to Troy and his Corona squad. I'm quite
sure they would have liked the title to be decided on the track today but it's
just one of those things."

Chris Vermeulen - championship position, 2nd

"To be honest, I'm not too disappointed about the championship. It was always a
long shot and, even if we'd managed to get some more points off Troy in race
two, he would still go to Magny-Cours with a big lead. All I could do was win
races and that's been happening recently - I think that shows just how much
we've developed the bike during the course of the season. I didn't really want
to stop the race but safety always has to be the most important thing. Some
parts of the track were especially dangerous, like coming out of the Variante
Alta chicane where the track slopes away and it was underwater. Behind that is a
concrete wall, so it was the right decision. We'll just go to Magny-Cours next
weekend and try for two more wins."

Karl Muggeridge - championship position, 11th

"In the end, it was the safest thing to do, cancelling the race. But I think we
should have tried at least a couple of laps, instead of turning it into a
battle. It's a shame for Chris that he didn't get to run the race and maybe take
the championship to the final round, but the decision obviously suited Troy. The
track is really slippery when it's wet but there was a lot of water laying on it
which had built up between the sighting lap and the warm-up lap. As I say, it
was the right decision but maybe they'll change the rules now."

Championship points after 11 of 12 rounds:

Troy Corser AUS (Suzuki)                      409
Chris Vermeulen AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda)  354
Noriyuki Haga JPN (Yamaha)                    255
James Toseland GBR (Ducati)                   228
Regis Laconi FRA (Ducati)                     221
Yukio Kagayama JPN (Suzuki)                   212
Chris Walker GBR (Kawasaki)                   140
Andrew Pitt AUS (Yamaha)                      137
Pierfrancesco Chili ITA (Honda)               125
Lorenzo Lanzi ITA (Ducati)                    118
Karl Muggeridge AUS (Winston Ten Kate Honda)  111

Final round:

7-9 October - Magny-Cours, France