NEUKIRCHNER ON FRONT ROW
 Alstare
Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner will start the season's opening
World Superbike race from the front row after taking fourth
place in today's Superpole.
The young German had only been in the top 10 in regular qualifying,
but he pulled out all the stops in the 16-rider shoot-out,
ending up on the front row behind Superpole winner Troy Corser
(Yamaha), Ruben Xaus (Ducati) and Max Biaggi (Ducati).
Suzuki Alstare riders Yukio Kagayama and Fonsi Nieto finished
eighth and 11th respectively and both know that good starts
in the 18-lap races tomorrow will be crucial.
Max Neukirchner - 4th, 1:58.964:
"I'm very happy with how my Superpole lap and getting
on the front row of the grid. Today my bike worked very well
on the Superpole lap and whenever I tried a really soft tyre,
but it didn't work so well when I tried to do a long run.
So now we will look at all the data and telemetry and see
if we can adjust the bike so that it works as well in a race
distance. I hope we can find out what to do so that I can
run with the top guys throughout the race, but whatever happens,
this has been a very good start and that makes me happy."
Yukio Kagayama - 8th, 1:59.285:
"My Superpole was a bit of mixture but it should've
been so much better. On my out-lap I felt some vibration in
my rear tyre and that made it a little difficult to concentrate
fully on riding as fast as I wanted. It was a problem in many
corners and then, to make matters worse, I made a bit of a
mistake with the throttle exiting the last corner and I lost
some more time. But second row is not so bad and, as long
as I make a good start, I think I can get a good result here.
My race set-up is pretty OK, though we may make a small adjustment
to the electronics in the warm-up tomorrow morning to see
if we can improve the bike. I don't think anybody has done
a really long run here so tyre choice and tyre conservation
will be critical. I think the winner will be the rider who
conserves his tyres best and is the most consistent in the
race."
Fonsi Nieto - 11th, 1:59.921:
"I guess my problem in Superpole is... Superpole. For
some reason I never go as well in Superpole as I do in practice
and qualifying. That has caused me problems in the past and
now I need to find a way round this problem and learn how
to attack Superpole in the best way. The problem with a bad
Superpole is that you end up way down the grid and that means
you have to push very hard in the early part of the race.
That wears the tyres out quicker, which means that the tyres
are in not such good condition at the end of the race. Today
I tried a qualifier in practice, but I got so much chatter
from it that I could not use it in Superpole. Instead I used
a very soft race tyre - like many other riders - and tried
to do my best. It's going to be a long hard day tomorrow,
but I am determined to give everything I've got to get some
good results."
Results: 1 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:58.053,
2 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:58.689, 3 Biaggi (I-Ducati) 1:58.767,
4 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 1:58.964, 5 Lanzi (I-Ducati)
1:58.975, 6 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:59.017, 7 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati)
1:59.224, 8 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare) 1:59.285. 11
Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki Alstare) 1:59.921.
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