KAGAYAMA 3RD IN ASSEN WSB QUALIFYING
 Team
Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama finished the first day
of qualifying at Assen with the third fastest time of the
day on his GSX-R1000, less then three tenths of a second outside
the lap record.
Team mate Fonsi Nieto ended with the fifth fastest time and
Max Neukirchner, recovering from a broken collarbone, finished
eighth.
Provisional pole went to Aussie Troy Bayliss (Ducati) with
Japanese rider Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) second.
Yukio Kagayama - 3rd, 1:40.036:
"Today was not so bad and I didn't have any big problems.
We started with one of the bikes with the Valencia set-up
and one different. But we soon found that the Valencia set-up
didn't work so well so we concentrated on getting the other
one to work at this track. We worked a lot on the electronics,
the chassis and improving the rear stability so that the bike
is smoother and more comfortable to ride. Assen is a track
where you have to have a smooth bike if you want to go fast,
so this is our first goal."
Fonsi Nieto - 5th, 1:40.195:
"I'm really happy with how today went. The bike is working
well - much better then Valencia - even though the set-up
is more or less the same! I found a good rhythm and everything
was OK, except when I tried to do some quick laps at the end
of qualifying, the red flag came out two times and I wasn't
able to get in a clean lap. I am happy because I did my fastest
lap on tyres that had already done 13 laps. Tomorrow, I hope
to do a good Superpole, get a good grid position and challenge
for the podium in both races."
Max Neukirchner - 8th, 1:40.409:
"This morning I think we went in the wrong direction,
but in the afternoon we made the bike a bit stiffer and it
was much better. I had a bit of a problem with the bike keeping
a good line today, but I think we know what to do tomorrow
and hopefully we will make progress. I didn't have any problems
with my shoulder today so I think it's going to be OK for
the weekend.
Friday WSB qualifying: 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati)
1:39.677, 2 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:40.009, 3 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki
Alstare) 1:40.036, 4 Smrz (CZ-Ducati) 1:40.064, 5 Fonsi Nieto
(E-Suzuki Alstare) 1:40.195, 6 Tamada (J-Kawasaki) 1:40.278,
8 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 1:40.409.
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