Making a perfect start from the front row after qualifying second on the grid, World Championship leader Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) took an immediate and unchallenged advantage in the 16-lap Supersport race, outpacing the entire field to secure a record breaking victory at Monza.
His fastest lap of 1:52.635 was a new record by almost 1.5 seconds, and Vermeulen enjoyed a 9.120 second margin of victory over Yamaha rider Jurgen van den Goorbergh.
Pole position man Karl Muggeridge (Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR) looked to be in position to score a Honda and Ten Kate 1-2 but he was forced to retire from the race on lap five, after dropping from second to last place with a burnt out clutch. Nonetheless, another Honda rider, Iain Macpherson (van Zon Honda CBR600RR) secured third place, his first podium of the season.
A strong ride at the head of the first tailing group could not be maintained by Sebastien Charpentier (Team Klaffi Honda CBR600RR) but the Frenchman picked up a useful ten points for his sixth place finish. Charpentier’s team-mate Robert Ulm scored 11th, with the distant Christophe Cogan (BKM Honda CBR600RR) overcoming the pain of a pre-race crash to finish one place behind in 12th.
Cogan’s fellow BKM rider Broc Parkes was 15th, Werner Daemen 17th after he could not get his engine to rev out on the straights.
Vermeulen now sits on 81 points in the championship standings, 29 clear of Katsuaki Fujiwara (Suzuki), with van den Goorbergh and Christian Kellner (Yamaha) on 51 and 46 points respectively.
For Vermeulen his second Supersport victory was as sweet as his first Phillip Island win, even if he did downplay his personal performance. “My start was pretty good and I was expecting Karl to come past but I didn’t see anyone. I read my pit board after about four laps and I had plus six so I turned around and there was no one there. I wondered what had happened and if the whole field had been wiped out or something. The team have worked really well this weekend with my injury and Pirelli gave us the perfect tyre for the race. The Ten Kate Honda is always fast and it was really quick here so all I had to do was sit on it and ride it around.”
Another great performance by Vermeulen, seen here leading team mate Karl Muggeridge, puts the Pirelli Ten Kate Honda on the podium at Monza.
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