RAIN CATCHES OUT KAGAYAMA
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Yukio Kagayama was
a victim of a wet circuit when he crashed in today's opening
practice for Sunday's World Superbike Championship third round
at Donington Park in England.
Both Kagayama and team mate Max Biaggi started cautiously
and, although conditions improved marginally in the afternoon,
the track still had several damp patches. It was one of these
that Kagayama hit towards the end of the qualifying session
and which caused him to suffer a heavy fall, knocking him
out for a few minutes He was taken to the Medical Centre for
a check up and X-Rays, but luckily suffered no broken bones
or any other injuries apart from a sore back. Biaggi took
today very carefully, using the two sessions to find a good
base set-up for his GSX-R1000 K7, before beginning to push
hard.
Troy Bayliss (Ducati) posted the day's fastest lap, over
a second under the lap record. Second is Troy Corser (Yamaha)
with Ruben Xaus (Ducati) third and series leader James Toseland
(Honda) fourth.
Yukio Kagayama - 7th, 1:34.549:
"The conditions today were not easy and then I crashed!
It happened at Craner Curves when I hit a small damp patch
on the track and lost control. I hit my head and knocked myself
out for a little while but there were no other injuries. My
back is very sore but I'm sure it'll be ok after a good sleep.
I would like to race this weekend but it is not up to me.
We shall see what happens in the morning."
Max Biaggi - 9th, 1:34.593:
"Today was not so easy and I used the time to try and
find a good base set-up for my bike. We had no data from here
so we had to start at the beginning and work our way through
quite a few things. In these conditions it is difficult to
try and choose tyres for the race because conditions could
be very different tomorrow or Sunday. This afternoon, when
the track was half wet and half dry, was tricky and I didn't
want to push too hard and crash. A few times today I made
small mistakes breaking too hard and having to run a bit wide.
That was probably because we had some clutch problems and
that was probably why I couldn't go any faster at the end
of the qualifying session."
Friday Qualifying: 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:32.33, 2 Corser
(Aus-Yamaha) 1:32.817, 3 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:33.646, 4 Toseland
(GB-Honda) 1:33.692, 5 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:33.729, 6 Muggeridge
(Aus-Honda) 1:34.203, 7 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra) 1:34.549, 8 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:34.553, 9 Max Biaggi
(I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:34.593, 10 Rolfo (I-Honda)
1:35.363.
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