NEW CHALLENGE FOR ALSTARE MEN
 Max
Biaggi and Yukio Kagayama will race their first ever World
Superbike Championship event on the Donington Park circuit
in England this weekend.
Although the Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders have competed
at the midlands venue before - Biaggi in MotoGP in 2005 and
Kagayama in British Championships in 2004 - neither have gone
head-to-head in the Superbike class.
And, the last time the Superbike World Championship was at
Donington was a tremendous occasion for Team Alstare Suzuki:
In 2001, Italian Pierfrancesco Chili took runner-up spot in
the first race and then followed it up with a sensational
win in the second. Since then the circuit has been off the
calendar.
The event will be particular noteworthy because it will be
a celebration of the 20th year of the Superbike World Championship
and especially important bearing in mind that the first ever
World Superbike Championship race took place there.
Max Biaggi:
"I like Donington because it is quite a fast track but
now that I am on Superbike I will have to learn it all over
again. It's going to feel very different on my Alstare Suzuki
GSX-R1000 compared to the last bike I rode there, so we will
have to start the first practice trying to find a good set-up
for the bike. We did a lot of work at the recent Valencia
tests and accumulated a lot of information. Hopefully, we
can put it all to good use at Donington and take some podiums."
Yukio Kagayama:
"For me the last time I raced at Donington seems a long
time ago. That was in BSB but this time it is the World Championship
and it will be much harder for sure. At our recent test, my
shoulder was still very sore, but now that I have had some
time to rest it I think it will be in much better condition
for the race. I will not know how strong it is until first
practice, but I am hoping that it will be ok and not give
me too much trouble. I have many fans in England so I want
to push hard and get a couple of podiums."
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