Team Alstare Suzuki news
2008 Superbike World Championship
Round 10, Brands Hatch, UK
Friday qualifying, 1st August
YUKIO THIRD!
Team Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama mastered a bumpy track and blustery conditions in this afternoon’s qualifying at Brands Hatch to end the day with the third fastest lap time. His team mate Fonsi Nieto finished tenth and Team Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner fourteenth. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) used his years of British Superbike Championship experience at the Kent circuit and took provisional pole position, just over a tenth of a second faster then Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha).
Yukio - 3rd, 1:26.156
In this morning practice and at the start of this afternoon’s qualifying I did not have a good feeling with the bike and also suffered problems with the grip. But my mechanics and I made some changes to the balance of the bike and the chassis set-up and there was a big improvement straightaway. I was able to put in some good laps and now I feel that we can improve further. The wind was very strong this afternoon, especially in the first and last turns and it was easy to get blown off line if you weren’t careful. I am a little sore from my crash at the Suzuka 8 hour race last weekend. I hit my left knee and it is not as flexible on the bike as it should be. The damaged ligaments in my left hand are getting better, but I know this is going to take quite some time. It is a little frustrating, but my job is to race so I just have to try and forget about it.
Fonsi - 10th, 1:26.582
Today was not so bad and although I only finished tenth quickest my lap time was not so far away from the leader, so I’m pretty happy. I used my number one bike for the whole day, except at the end when there was a problem with the exhaust and I had to switch to my number two bike. I prefer my number one bike and that’s what we’ll work with tomorrow. We will carry on working on the traction and wheelie control because it is important to have this working well at this track.
Max - 14th, 1:26.830
The first practice felt good and we had a good set-up and the lap times were not so bad. But when we started trying different tyres, the grip went down. Towards the end we used a front and rear combination that worked well and now we will look at Yukio’s data and see if we can use some of it and improve. The race line round here is OK, but when you get off-line the track feels dirty and slippery, so you have to keep your wits about you.
Friday qualifying
1 Kiyonari (J-Honda) 1:26.017, 2 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:26.144,
3 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare) 1:26.156, 4 Biaggi (I-Ducati) 1:26.166, 5 Smrz (CZ-Ducati) 1:26.290, 6 Lavilla (E-Honda) 1:26.441, 7 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:26.461, 8 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda) 1:26.565, 9 Sykes (GB-Suzuki) 1:26.572,
10 Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki Alstare) 1:27.582, 14 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 1:26.830,