Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport) left Phillip Island with no points, after crashing out whilst chasing the leader in the shortened 5-lap race at the Australian venue last month. The former STK600 Champion was consistently fast throughout the weekend and part of a three way battle for the win with Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki) and Kev Coghlan (DMC-Panavto Yamaha) before the first race was red flagged.

"I'm not upset anymore" said Michael van der Mark"but it took a while to sink because we worked so hard all weekend and we were close to Kenan (Sofuoglu). But I'm a racer, my goal is to win so I have to push hard and sometimes these are the consequences."

Despite the bitter outcome, the young Dutchman is nevertheless taking positives out of the first round and now he hopes to test before Aragon to make sure he is ready for the next race: "We improved so much. The bike is fast and the handling is better,but also I made a big step forward because of all the experience from last year. But at the moment there are no tests planned before the second round, surely I'd love to test during this long break."

If there is one thing that van der Mark is aware of is that the competition this year is higher than ever before, but in his opinion the following rounds will tell who is really up for the title chase: "I was not surprised of seeing Jules (Cluzel) up top, he did so well two years ago in his rookie WSS season. The only thing that surprised me is that he was first quite off the pace during the first two days, and then he managed to win the 5-lap race. Surely he'll be part of the fight for the title."

"Before the first round you never know who is really going to be fast, but at Phillip Island many riders showed great speed and lap times were very close. That's what this series is all about, now we just have to see who can stay up front."