VERMEULEN FINISHES FOURTH IN HIS ROOKIE SBK CHAMPIONSHIP
03 October 2004 - Honda Racing

Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) saw his world championship challenge blunted by a double DNF at Magny Cours, due to two electrical problems.

Having qualified well and having been in contention for podium finishes before the gremlins struck, Vermeulen and his entire team were robbed of the chance of a good season ending flourish.

In race one he retired with only 11 laps completed, in race two he went out on lap 19, having dropped off from a possible podium finish. James Toseland (Ducati) won the opener, and in finishing second in race two, behind Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) he won the championship. Regis Laconi finished second, and Haga leapfrogged Vermeulen to score third place overall.

A disappointed Vermeulen stated. ''In the first race it was just a freak electrical problem. We haven''t had that problem all year. The second race the bike finished the race the same way as it did at Imola, so I didn''t have any choice but to retire. The last three races have given us some problems so we have some serious work to do. I had an injection for my injured hand before the race and I felt no pain from it at all. I felt comfortable and the bike was good until it started missing a bit of power. It would cut in and out, but before that I felt every bit as quick as any of them. I wanted to go out with a podium, if not a win, so it''s really disappointing.''

Team Manager Ronald Ten Kate stated. ''It looks like the crank senor on the bike was the fault, and that is what the data tells us after the first investigation. That is pretty sad for us to have a bike which has run virtually the whole championship without any problems and then have two DNFs because of technical things is a disappointment. The machinery has been working well so we cannot put any blame on the bike. If someone had said that we would be fourth this year before we started the races I would have been happy enough. But we have been in a position where the results have been really good so all in all I''m happy, but it was not a happy ending. I want to thank all the staff of the team for the hard work. Everyone could see how hard we had to work to get to where we are. We are looking forward to next year because the development year is now over. Next year we will be stronger than this year.''

Race 11 Magny Cours - Frankrijk

Results Race 1
1. J. Toseland, GBR, Ducati 999 F04
2. N. Haga, JPN, Ducati 999 RS, 0.492
3. R. Laconi, FRA, Ducati F04, 3.802
4. S. Gimbert, FRA, Yamaha YZF R1, 7.827
5. S. Martin, AUS, Ducati 999 RS, 13.826

C. Vermeulen, AUS, Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR, DNF

Results Race 2
1. N. Haga, JPN, Ducati 999 RS
2. J. Toseland, GBR, Ducati 999 F04, 3.155
3. R. Laconi, FRA, Ducati F04, 5.790
4. S. Gimbert, FRA, Yamaha YZF R1, 14.753
5. P. Chili, ITA, Ducati 998 RS, 17.507

C. Vermeulen, Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR, DNF

Championship results

1. J. Toseland, GBR, Ducati 999 F04, 336 points
2. R. Laconi, FRA, Ducati 999 F04, 327 points
3. N. Haga, JPN, Ducati 999 RS, 299 points
4. C. Vermeulen, AUS, Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR, 282 points
5. P. Chili, ITA, Ducati 998 RS, 243 points

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