POSITIVE START FOR ALSTARE
Team Alstare Suzuki's Yukio Kagayama, Fonsi Nieto and Max
Neukirchner have completed the first of three days of World
Superbike testing at Phillip Island in Australia positive
and confident with their new GSX-R1000s.
The team worked mainly on suspension and engine settings
and settled into a good rhythm with Kagayama just three-tenths-of-a-second
off the fastest unofficial time of 1:32.6 set by Troy Bayliss.
Yukio Kagayama - 73 laps. Best lap 1:32.9:
"For the first day, the feeling was not so bad and certainly
my body is in much better condition than it was in Qatar in
the last tests. I didn't find it hard to get into the 1:32s
this morning and then we began the testing work. We tested
many different areas - suspension, engine and electronics
and by the end of the day the rear suspension was getting
much better. All in all, I think today was quite a good day."
Fonsi Nieto - 82 laps. Best lap 1:33.2:
"I am really happy with how today went. After the holiday
it was good to get back on the bike and straightaway I felt
at home on it. At the last tests, the bike didn't feel as
if it was my bike, but today I was happy on it right from
the start and this makes me feel very good. We tried many
different things today and we have a lot of good information
to consider. I had a very small crash, at MG Corner, when
I lost the front end. It was probably because I had a new
rear tyre and suddenly I went down. But there was no injury
to me at all and I don't think the bike was even damaged much."
Max Neukirchner - 70 laps. Best lap 1:35.0:
"Today we had some problems with the electronics and
there was a lot of work to do, but at the end of the day I
was quite happy because we had got one bike working pretty
well. Then we began the work on the other bike and that is
going OK also. My main problem today is me! I had a bit of
a sore throat and my head ached a bit so maybe I'm getting
a bit of flu or something. Because of that I found it hard
to concentrate on the bike for long periods, so I hope I will
feel better tomorrow - as I know there is a lot to do and
I want to do it!"
|
