NEW WSB TERRITORY IN UTAH
The sixth round of the 2008 Superbike World Championship
takes place for the first time at Miller Motorsports Park,
near Salt Lake City in Utah, USA this weekend - the first
time the new, purpose-built facility has hosted a World Superbike
and AMA Superbike Championship at the same time.
None of the current WSBK teams or riders have raced at Miller
before, so it will be a new experience for everybody. As the
AMA Superbike series uses a different course layout to World
Superbikes, there are no lap times to compare, making it a
unique occasion for the WSBK regulars.
Instead of the paint-scheme seen in the first five rounds
of the championship so far, the Suzuki GSX-R1000 bikes of
Fonsi Nieto, Yukio Kagayama and Max Neukirchner will feature
an all-new, one-off design featuring Globasol.
Globasol is a company involved in the development and implementation
of all kinds of renewable energy, such as photovoltaic energy,
biomass and biofuel and recently presented a project for the
construction on a plant in the Dominican Republic for the
production of 60,000 tons of biodiesel per annum.
They are part of the Globalia group, which also includes
Pepephone - the sponsor featured on the Suzuki Alstare bikes
in the championship so far. The new livery at Miller will
just be for USA only, but is Alstare's way of giving race
fans something a little different.
Fonsi Nieto:
"We are all going somewhere we've never been before
and have no knowledge about so I guess a lot will be down
to who can learn the track quickly, get a good bike set-up,
do a good Superpole and then two good races. It is the same
situation for everybody and it's going to be a very different
experience to racing in Europe for sure. I wanted to do a
lot better at Monza than I did, so I am hoping that I get
on with Miller and finish with two good results - podiums
hopefully."
Yukio Kagayama:
"New track, new experience and I am happy because nobody
will have any advantages over me. Normally, I learn tracks
quite fast, so I am hoping that Miller will be the same. Of
course, Suzuki USA is very strong and has much information
on Miller, but this time they cannot help us because we are
racing a different design track to the one they use! My season
has been a bit up and down but I am going to Miller determined
to challenge for the top places in both races."
Max Neukirchner:
"I am really looking forward to Miller because nobody
will have any advantage over me and that is a bit of a rare
experience. The layout we are using doesn't look so hard but
I want to do some laps before I talk about how it could be.
After my first ever race win, I am now eager for more. Before
this season started, I felt that I could win a race and now
that I have done it, I want a lot more."
|
