Vehvilainen leads CAS cause, Cooper tied up.

Finnish rider Jussi Vehvilainen was the top CAS Honda finisher in Sunday's German Grand Prix, taking fifth place in race where teammates Paul Cooper and Yoshi Atsuta struggled.

The race began well for the CAS riders with Cooper in 4th place, Atsuta inside the top ten and Vehvilainen 12th. However, Cooper got a little out of shape further around the first lap and got tangled with a trackside banner picked.

The troublesome track banner then got wrapped up in the South African's rear wheel, causing him to lose all control of the rear brake - and forcing a trip to the pits.

"I had a great drop," Coopers said of his start. "I was inside the top five and felt okay. Then I got a little out of shape and hit the banner. It got caught in my back wheel and I didn't have any back brakes. I thought about staying out and hoping it would work it's way out, then I decided to come in to the pits and get it taken out.

"I lost so much time and when I came out I was miles back," he sighed. "The track was really rutted up and I didn't like that at all. I like to work in a corner and on this track you had to just hold it on and ride around with the rut. I will say though they worked hard on the track and did the best they could have done."

Cooper returned to the track in 28th place and worked his way up to an eventual 15th with his never say die attitude. Atsuta had also come around the first lap in a good position, like Cooper though he slowly found himself retreating to the mid-pack, eventually finishing in 17th place.

While his teammates were heading backwards, Vehvilainen was making up ground on the front guy's. The Finnish rider had gone from 12th on lap one to move into ninth place two laps later, he then got caught behind some slower riders

"I was going okay," Vehvilainen said. "I had some trouble with Marc Ristori, passing him was tough, once I got him I could make up some ground on the others. By lap nine I was in 7th place and the riders in front had much the same speed as me. I didn't give up though and could get around Aubert when he fell, which was lucky for me."