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Hannspree Ten Kate Honda>> Tough start for Hannspree riders

March 01 2011

Ten Kate Racing - Nieuwsbrief

Hannspreee Ten Kate Honda riders Fabien Foret and Florian Marino endured tough starts to the 2011 World Supersport championship season at Phillip Island in Australia earlier today.

After qualifying on the front row for the 21-lap race, Foret crashed during a wet warm-up this morning, sustaining injuries to his left hand and a fractured L3 vertebra. The French rider opted to start the race and was in contention in the early stages, breaking the four-year-old lap record of compatriot and former Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider, Sébastien Charpentier. However, on lap 16 Foret was forced to retire from sixth place when his rear tyre went flat – a fate that befell at least two other top ten riders in the race.

Marino, meanwhile, had an eventful start to his first race at Phillip Island, bogging the start and then running wide at turn four on the first lap, which he finished in last place. The plucky 17-year-old fought his way b ack through the field for an impressive seventh place finished.

Florian Marino – P7
The bike just bogged at the start and I was very lucky because nobody bumped into me. When I got going again I arrived at turn four too fast with some slower riders and I had to go straight. When I rejoined the race I was in last place so then I had to come back. The rhythm was not bad compared to the top five riders so that’s why I’m so disappointed. I passed rider after rider and then I came to a group of five riders, which I passed one by one and finished the race the best that I could. I took some points, which is a good thing but I’m disappointed that all the work we put in this weekend did not get a better result. It’s still the first race and we’ll try better for the next round at Donington, which I’ve ridden on a 125 but it’ll be different on a 600. I want to improve again and, for sure, I’ll make a better start.

Fabien Foret – DNF
When I saw my fingers after the warm-up crash this morning, I thought my weekend was over. But I got patched up and thought I’d jump on the bike and get some points. Then my back was hurting so I went back to the medical centre and asked them to x-ray it and that’s when they discovered the fracture. They said it was up to me whether I rode or not so I decided to try. I was pretty stiff on the bike and made some mistakes changing the way I rode, like braking with four fingers. I was OK for a while but started to get tired and I got some arm pump because of how I was riding. I felt the tyre dropping but I was surprised how fast it was going off and turned up the traction control to stop it spinning. I just tried to stay on the bike and finish the race. Tomorrow I’ll have surgery on my finger because the tendon is cracked and I need a skin graft, too. The back just needs rest.

Ronald ten Kate; team manager
We’ve done six days here now, so we know what we were getting from the tyres and we knew we had the distance. So, the tyre problem is a big surprise – even more since Fabien’s injuries are quite big from his warm-up crash. There was quite a bit of blood in his gloves and on the bike when he came in. He was in quite a lot of discomfort during the race but he managed to hang in there with the leading bunch. Even then he broke the lap record, so set-up was not a problem. Then the tyre went flat and there’s not much to say about that. We’ve done six days of testing, done the long runs and even kept the tyre temperatures about 20% cooler than last year with the set-up we’ve been running. I don’t know what caused it but we’ll speak with Pirelli later to get their opinion. Florian’s start was messed up but to come from last to seventh in your first World Supersport race at Phillip Island is really great . It shows the kind of spirit that’s inside him, so we’re really happy with that. It’s a starting point for him but from here we have to step up a bit. I’m looking forward to taking the team back to Europe because we have the speed on both side of the garage and we’ll be fighting strongly at the next round.

2011 World Supersport championship, round 1
– Phillip Island, Australia Results:
1 Luca Scassa (ITA) Yamaha 33m34.739s
2 Broc Parkes (AUS) Kawasaki +0.009s
3 Sam Lowes (GBR) Honda +0.033s
4 David Salom (ESP) Kawasaki +0.272s
5 Robbin Harms (DEN) Honda +16.969s
6 James Ellison (GBR) Honda +23.943s
7 Florian Marino (FRA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +31.788s

Championship points after first round:
1 Scassa 25, 2 Parkes 20, 3 Lowes 16, 4 Salom 13, 5 Harms 11, 6 Ellison 10, 7 Marino 9, 8 Vittoria Iannuzzo (ITA) Kawasaki 8, 9 Alex Lundh (SWE) Honda 7, 10 D Dell’omo (ITA) Tri umph 6.
Next round: Donington Park, United Kingdom – 25-27 March
 
©2011 Hannspree Ten Kate Honda

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