KAGAYAMA 3RD ON BRANDS WSB OPENING DAY
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 ahead of Sunday's World Superbike Championship 10th round.
His team mate Fonsi Nieto finished 10th and Max Neukirchner
14th.
Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) took provisional pole position,
just over a tenth-of-a-second faster then Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha).
Yukio Kagayama - 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 straight away. 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 Nieto - 10th, 1:26.582:
"Today was not so bad and although I only finished 10th
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 Neukirchner - 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 WSB 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.
RIZLA SUZUKI REPORT:
Rizla Suzuki's Tom Sykes showed raw ability and speed during
the opening day of the 10th round of the World Superbike Championship
at Brands Hatch in Kent, qualifying in a competitive ninth
place, just half a second away from pole position.
The Huddersfield-based wild card rider wasn't fazed on his
World Superbike debut by the plethora of stars that were on
track alongside him as he knuckled down to work his way through
the Pirelli tyre combinations available this weekend. He took
the challenge to the regular World Superbike riders, grabbing
a top-10 placing and putting in consistent lap times throughout
the day.
His Rizla Suzuki worked well on the arduous 2.3-mile undulating
Kent circuit as his team already had a good set-up from previous
British Superbike rounds. With one second covering the top
15 riders, Sykes has a tough weekend ahead but is confident
there is more to come.
Tom Sykes:
"That was a decent session and I'm quite happy with
the set-up. We need to make a few little changes as the World
Superbike tyres have different characteristic to the BSB tyres.
I want to be able to use more of the potential grip on the
rear. I'm only 0.5 seconds off so it isn't the end of the
world and I'm happy with our race tyres."
Jack Valentine - Team Manager Rizla Suzuki:
"That was a pretty good first qualifying session. We've
spent time on our race set-up and working through the available
tyre combinations, some of which we haven't tried out previously.
We have a few chassis changes to make to the Rizla Suzuki
which will help the front hold the line when Tom is on the
gas. I'm really pleased so far as we are running consistent
times and have good race pace. On ideal times Tom would have
been seventh - there isn't much in it. I know we can improve
and Tom will step up again tomorrow and challenge for the
front row."
WORLD SUPERSPORT REPORT:
Barry Veneman secured the sixth fastest time and a provisional
second starting row during the first day of the British race
weekend as team mate Didier Van Keymeulen ended the day on
a provisional 22nd position.
Many riders struggled with grip problems because of the slippery
track during the free practice in the morning. Also RES Software
Hoegee Suzuki rider Veneman had some problems to find grip
with his Supersport machine, but despite this grip problem
he closed the session in fifth.
Marc Hoegee - Team owner RES Software Hoegee Suzuki:
"In general we had a good first day today. The grip
problem was not because of the machine, but it had to do with
the track. I knew we should have more grip in afternoon, so
for the qualifying session we didn't apply big adjustments
to the Suzuki. Today we put most attention on the lap times.
Barry managed to set down a fine lap time and a provisional
place on the second starting row is good. Didier was not so
lucky today but the basis is good and I expect that we can
make another step forward tomorrow."
Barry Veneman:
"I am satisfied about today. We tried some small things
on the bike during the practices but we spent most time to
set down a good lap time during the qualifying session. Actually
I expected that I was able to ride a faster lap time then
I did today. To realise this, it is important that I take
the corners with more nerve. It is not possible to measure
out the whole circuit here… you just have to be brash
enough to go into the corners with nerve. For tomorrow we
shall adjust some things on the bike which makes us even more
competitive."
Didier Van Keymeulen:
"There are a few things I struggled with today and I
have to improve those. Some of these things are the same as
Barry mentioned, but there are also things which I can improve
by myself. We know which way we have to go, so tomorrow it
must be possible to show the improvement. Unfortunately tomorrow's
weather forecast is not very good so I hope that it stays
dry during the second qualifying session. I find it pretty
hard to ride on this track but of course I will do anything
I can to get the points this weekend."
SUPERSTOCK 1000 REPORT:
Team Alstare Suzuki rider Xavi Simeon finished the first
day of qualifying at Brands Hatch with the 11th fastest time
but was not happy with proceedings today.
He and the team were unable to find a good set-up in today's
two sessions but are confident that things will be different
tomorrow.
Xavi Simeon - 11th, 1:30.809:
"I am not happy today because I could not get a good
feeling with my bike. We tried different things but the result
was the same - little or no grip. I had many problems exiting
the corners and just couldn't get on the gas as fast as I
wanted to. The funny thing is that I went faster on old tyres
today than on new ones because I couldn't feel any difference!
The track is very bumpy but that's not the problem. I hope
the team and I can find a good set-up tomorrow because I really
want a good result on Sunday and leave Brands Hatch leading
the series."
Friday Superstock 1000 Qualifying: 1 Berger (F-Honda) 1:29.315,
2 Corti (I-Yamaha) 129.938, 3 Pirro (I-Yamaha) 1:30.015, 4
Roberts (Aus-Ducati) 1:30.064, 5 Kirkham (GB-Yamaha) 1:30.085,
6 Morais (RSA-Kawasaki) 1:30.382. 11 Xavi Simeon (B-Alstare
Suzuki) 1:30.809.
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