World Superbike 2008 - Round Four

World Superbike 2008 - Round Four - Assen

Day 1 Report - Suzuki

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."