round 11 - Imola Italy

DOUBLE BLOW FOR WINSTON SUPERSPORT TEAM

Winston Ten Kate Honda riders, Sébastien Charpentier and Katsuaki Fujiwara, have
both been ruled out of this weekend's eleventh round World Supersport
championship event at Imola in Italy.

Recently crowned World Champion Charpentier crashed at Imola's Acque Minerali
corner in this morning's free practice session damaging ligaments in his left
collarbone. His Winston Honda team-mate, Fujiwara, collided with another rider
yesterday morning, suffering a broken ring finger on his left hand and injuring
his arm.

Ronald ten Kate - team manager

"If Sébastien was still racing for the championship, I think we would have been
able to patch him up to ride this weekend but he's desperate to be fit for the
final round at Magny-Cours next weekend so we have decided to withdraw him from
the event. Kats had a big crash yesterday so it was good for the whole team to
see him up and about and fully alert this morning. We'll monitor his progress
over the next few days and hope to have him ready for the final round as well.
We've often joked about wrapping up the championship early and having the last
few rounds as a bit of a holiday. But, seriously, this is a sad end to what's
been a perfect season up to now. This is the first time we've had to withdraw
one rider from an event, let alone two, so the whole team is very disappointed."

Sébastien Charpentier - World Supersport Champion 2005

"This is a big, big disappointment for me because I was looking forward to a
perfect weekend. I love Imola - it's a great circuit and, after the time I set
in qualifying yesterday, I was very confident for at least another podium finish
here. It wasn't such a big crash; I just ran a little wide at Acque Minerali and
fell off on the grass. The big problem for me now is to be fit to ride at
Magny-Cours next weekend, which is very important for me. I will go to see a
specialist in Paris, who I have been visiting for 10 years now, and hope that he
can get me ready to ride next week."

Katsuaki Fujiwara - championship position, third

"I'm feeling a little bit sore, I have to admit. It was a pretty big crash
because I was going quite fast and collided with a slower rider who changed his
line without warning. I will rest as much as possible and get checked out at the
medical centre at Magny-Cours when we get there on Tuesday. I really want to
ride  next weekend but maybe I will need some pain killing injections to help.
I'm very sorry for the whole team who have worked so hard all through the season
and because I know these last two races were very important to try to win back
second place in the championship."