“Although I live in Europe these days and probably don't put in any more laps of Phillip Island than any other rider, I still love the track,” admitted Troy. “It is fast, flowing and technically quite hard, but it's a real blast to ride and great fun when you get it right. It's a track that demands good circuit knowledge because, if you want to go fast, you've got to know it inside out. Last year, I was on a different bike, so I am really looking forward to being on a very good bike this year.”
Ranged against the top Ducati and Suzuki entrants in Australia will be an astoundingly strong line up of competitors, equipped with machinery from a total of six manufacturers. The top four-cylinder runner in 2004 was 2003 WSS champion
Chris Vermeulen. On the Winston Ten Kate Honda he is back again to make an even bigger impression than his overall fourth in last year's contest.
“It's always good to come home to race and I've had a couple of weeks to acclimatise at my parents' house in Brisbane. I've been doing some flying hours towards my pilot's licence, some training and cruising around in my F100 pick-up, so I'm feeling pretty relaxed!” said Vermeulen
Karl Muggeridge, 2004's WSS champion, is his team-mate, in what is his own first season of Superbike competition.
“For various reasons, the first round in Qatar wasn't that fantastic but the great thing with this team is that we didn't panic,” explained Muggeridge. “I've said from the start that I'm not going to make any wild predictions for my first year in Superbikes because that'll only put pressure on me. I just want to make steady progress each time I go out on the bike and the Valencia test was really the first opportunity to do that. It showed that with some time on the bike I can be competitive and I'm looking to push that forward at Phillip Island this weekend. Of course, I've got friends and family coming down to cheer me on which will be great but it won't be until after the race that I can really relax with them.”
