After showing outstanding speed during practice and qualifying - until his spectacular Superpole fall -
Karl Muggeridge could only take a 12th and ninth place finishes at Qatar, after his number one machine did not respond as expected in race conditions.
Residual damage from the Superpole accident was deemed the likely cause, and Muggeridge now sits overall ninth in the championship.
"It was no good really," sighed the Winston Ten Kate Honda rider. "I struggled from beginning to end. Something is wrong with the bike and we daren't change to the second, as we hadn't run that other one yet. So to say I am disappointed is an understatement. Every time I entered a corner, right or left, it was chattering, and I was so sideways. It has to be the bike, because James (Toseland) and I have such a similar race set-up, it's just not funny."
"A bit of misfortune for Karl, who showed good pace earlier in the weekend," added team manager Ronald Ten Kate. "He got into trouble with his number one bike. There has been some damage after he crashed on (on Friday), but something we cannot see. For Phillip Island we will change the chassis and everything else to make sure everything is OK. If he did not have that difficulty I'm sure he would have had a couple of good top five finishes."
