round nine - Assen, Holland
Qualifying practice - 2 September 2005

CHARPENTIER FASTEST AT ASSEN

Winston Ten Kate Honda's Sebastien Charpentier underlined his season-long
domination by setting the fastest time in this afternoon's opening qualifying
session for Sunday's ninth round World Supersport championship race at Assen in
Holland. The Frenchman set a time of 2m08.683s around the revised 5.9km Assen
circuit, just one tenth of a second faster than his nearest challenger, Michel
Fabrizio, on another Honda.

Charpentier's Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Katsuaki Fujiwara, set the
fourth fastest time this afternoon, despite crashing towards the end of the
45-minute session. The Japanese ace had spent most of the session in second
place and is confident of further improvement tomorrow.

Ronald ten Kate - team manager:

"Everything was going pretty well until Kats crashed and, although there were a
few minutes left in the session, he went for a check-up at Clinica Mobile. I
don't think it will affect his performance tomorrow, when I'm sure he'll be able
to improve his current position. With Sebastien we've just been trying to put in
as many laps as possible on what we think will be his race tyres for Sunday.
We'll have a few softer options left tomorrow to try to better his provisional
pole time. It's good to see the boys doing well in front of all the guests here
at our home round."

Sebastien Charpentier - fastest, 2m08.683s

"There's a lot of riders out there doing some strange things. They are all
riding around in groups and no-one seems to be doing their own thing. I very
nearly high-sided trying to pass one group and hurt my ribs a little. Otherwise
I didn't push to the maximum today and just used a softer tyre for one lap.
We'll try some different chassis settings tomorrow but the bike feels OK at the
moment. We've already chosen the front tyre and have two or three rear options
for tomorrow. But a lot depends on the weather, of course. I'm enjoying the
weekend so far - very relaxed and the atmosphere in the box is as good as ever."

Katsuaki Fujiwara - fourth fastest, 2m09.679s

"Yes, big high-side coming out of the long left-hander onto the back of the
circuit. My take off was good, but my landing not so good. I've taken some skin
off my little finger and my neck is a bit sore, so I thought I'd go and get it
checked rather than go out for the last five minutes. I'm pretty happy with
progress and I was fastest in the first sector on the lap that I crashed, so I'm
up to speed. I was confident of a good time and I'll be able to do it tomorrow."

World Supersport, Assen - provisional qualifying times:

 1 Sebastien Charpentier FRA (Winston Ten Kate Honda)  2m08.683s
 2 Michel Fabrizio ITA (Honda)                         2:08.657
 3 Broc Parkes AUS (Yamaha)                            2:09.662
 4 Katsuaki Fujiwara JPN (Winston Ten Kate Honda)      2:09.679
 5 Fabien Foret FRA (Honda)                            2:09.792
 6 Kevin Curtain AUS (Yamaha)                          2:09.837
 7 Stephane Chambon FRA (Honda)                        2:09.883
 8 Alessandro Corradi ITA (Ducati)                     2:10.090
 9 Arie Vos NED (Honda)                                2.10.151
10 Michel Lagrive BEL (Suzuki)                         2:10.241