Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli and Briton Leon Haslam will join Suzuki Alstare for the 2010 World Superbike Championship season – the 25th anniversary of the Suzuki GSXR.

Negotiations with Sylvain Guintoli began late last Thursday evening and continued throughout the weekend to finalise the agreement. Thanks to the quick response and excellent collaboration between Suzuki Japan, Suzuki GB and Team Crescent’s Paul Denning, the team was quickly able to conclude a very satisfactory deal allowing Guintoli’s arrival at Alstare and Yukio Kagayama’s return to BSB with Team Crescent, who are looking forward to working with him again.

Alstare would like to thank Kagayama for his skill and courage during the five years of working together and wish him all the best in his fight for the BSB crown next year.

Francis Batta:

“Sylvain already knows about the Suzuki GSX-R and Pirelli tyres and his professionalism and motivation for this new challenge are positive factors for us to start working together straight away.

“We at Team Suzuki Alstare are also very happy to welcome a British rider. The Suzuki UK distributor has always given great support to Team Suzuki Alstare and all of us are delighted to have signed Leon Haslam for the 2010 World Superbike Championship. Leon has a good family set-up and they advise, support and help him very well. He has a real fighting spirit and is one of the best riders in the WSBK series, for sure. We are certain he will fit in perfectly with the Team Suzuki Alstare structure, as we both share the same desire to work hard and to win.

“With a team of such quality and experience as Suzuki Alstare, we feel that Leon will have a very bright future.”

Leon Haslam:

“The opportunity to join Team Suzuki Alstare was something that my father and I took extremely seriously immediately. The team enjoys direct support from the manufacturer and a long history of success, so joining them offers me an exciting step forward in my career.

“Meeting Francis Batta and listening to his plans and desire to succeed confirmed the potential of the whole team and its infrastructure. Suzuki Alstare has a very experienced team of technicians and potential for development, both in-house and via the factory in Japan. This means that the team is 100 per cent geared up to win the 2010 World Superbike Championship.

“This is naturally opening a new chapter in my own career and one that I relish. The team has a promising winter test plan with the Suzuki factory, so I’m very much looking forward to these tests, the 2010 World Superbike Championship and challenging for the world title.”

Published; Paul.v.D. webmaster@gsx-r.eu

After his terrible crash at Monza, Max Neukirchner underwent a number of operations which then prevented him from racing for several months.
He was scheduled to return at Brno, but was forced to postpone his comeback after suffering a serious injury to his vertebrae in a fall during the official tests in Imola.
Max then returned to Germany to begin a programme of rehabilitation and recovery but was also then required to undergo two major operations at a clinic in Chemnitz, not far from his home.
In response to many questions about his health, we were informed that he would return at the Nurburgring, then at Imola, and finally at Magny-Cours.
Max’s situation was causing concern within Alstare, so we asked him to produce his medical records (during the Imola race weekend) so that the specialists of the Clinica Mobile could confirm his fitness to race again.

Max arrived at the track on Saturday but, as his clinical records were incomplete, new X-rays were required. These X-rays, taken by Dr. Costa’s medical staff, showed that excellent work had been carried out by the German surgeons, but also that Max’s recovery might take longer than predicted and that there was still a significant risk to his long-term health.
Alstare then had a telephone conversation, in Max’s presence, with the neurologist of the Chemnitz clinic, who confirmed the diagnosis made by the Clinica Mobile. The neurologist stated that he would not take responsibility for allowing Max to start racing again.
According to these two different medical sources, Max’s recovery could be expected to take between four and six months.

On September 30th 2009, the contract between Max and Alstare should have been automatically extended for 2010.  However, as a result of all these issues, we decided to have a meeting with Max on the Sunday after the race in Imola. During this meeting, we informed him that his contract could not be extended while his physical condition remained in doubt.

We asked Max to come to Alleur, with one of his surgeons, the week after Magny-Cours, in order to carry out some tests which would have clarified the true state of his health. Unfortunately Max did not  show up at our headquarters as had been agreed.

Alstare Suzuki have had a close collaboration with Max for three years and, during this time, we have encouraged and developed his promise whilst supporting him in the best possible way to enhance his career.
Max’s failure to come and talk to us means that, regretfully, this collaboration has now come to an end. However, we would like to wish him a full and speedy recovery and good luck in the future.

See latest contact Max with the Team

Published by; Paul.v.D. webmaster@gsx-r.eu

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama enjoyed his best World Superbike race weekend this season today at Magny Cours in France since the opening round in Australia in March and is looking forward to further improvement in the next round in Portimao in three weeks time.
 
His team mate Karl Muggeridge had a slow-speed tumble in race one, but then made amends by posting a solid eighth position in race two.

Ben Spies (Yamaha) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) took a win apiece to leave Haga leading the championship by just 10 points. Spies won today’s first race, with Haga second and Max Biaggi (Aprilia) third. Haga got his revenge in race two with Biaggi second and Jonathan Rea (Honda) third.

Yukio Kagayama – Race 1: 7th, Race 2: 6th:

“Today my results were the best they have been for a long time, but I want more. The progress the bike has made on its new suspension has been good, but again, I want more. There have been some not so fun times this season, but at Imola last week and here in Magny-Cours, I am enjoying being a racer again. The settings we used on the bike today were the best they have been this weekend, so a big thank you to my team for doing a good job. There were still some problems with rear grip, but I hope that we can solve this problem in Portimao. I am looking forward to continuing the good progress there and ending the season on a high.”

Karl Muggeridge – Race 1: DNF, Race 2: 8th:

“I suppose the crash in race one was probably my mistake: It was early in the race and the fuel tank was full and I must have got in a bit too hot and lost the front. Maybe because of this, I rode a bit tentatively at the beginning of race two and it took me a bit of time to get going properly. My bike was OK on the fast sweepers, but it struggled for grip on the slow, small corners and I reckon that cost me about four-to-five-tenths-of-a-second each lap. I am getting more used to the bike every time out and feel we are making good progress with it and the new suspension. Hopefully, I will have another chance in the next round, but I’ll wait and see on that.”

Race 1: 1 Spies (USA-Yamaha), 2 Haga (JPN-Ducati), 3 Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia), 4 Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati), 5 Haslam (GBR-Honda), 6 C Checa (ESP-Honda), 7 Yukio Kagayama (JPN-Suzuki Alstare). Karl Muggeridge (AUS-Suzuki Alstare) DNF.

Race 2: 1 Haga, 2 Biaggi, 3 Rea (GBR-Honda), 4 Spies, 5 Haslam, 6 Yukio Kagayama (JPN-Suzuki Alstare). 8 Karl Muggeridge (AUS-Suzuki Alstare).

WSB Points: 1 Haga 436, 2 Spies 426, 3 Fabrizio 346, 4 Biaggi 293, 5 Rea 279, 6 Haslam 241. 12 Yukio Kagayama (JPN-Suzuki Alstare) 123. 21 Karl Muggeridge (AUS-Suzuki Alstare) 21.

SUPERSTOCK 1000:

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Claudio Corti took fourth place in the ninth round of this year’s Superstock 1000 FIM Cup at Magny-Cours, but Xavi Simeon (Ducati) took second and with it, the title.

Corti’s team cured most of yesterday’s vibration problems by making changes to the front suspension, and the result was better, but not perfect. 

Maxime Berger (Honda) won today’s 14-lap race with Simeon second and Sylvain Barrier (Yamaha) third.

Claudio Corti - 4th:

“My bike was better than yesterday. The front end was better but maybe the rear was a bit too hard because the bike was spinning a bit. I made a good start and was second, behind Barrier, before Simeon took over the lead on lap two. I was then involved in a fight with Badovini, Berger, with Simeon and Barrier just ahead. I did my best, but could not find a way to get past and stay in front of Badovini and Berger. Badovini’s crash meant that I moved up to fourth, with two laps left and that’s where I stayed. I want to congratulate Simeon on the title and would like to get my revenge by winning the last race in Portimao.”

Superstock 1000 results: 1 Berger (FRA-Honda), 2 Simeon (BEL-Ducati), 3 Barrier (FRA-Yamaha), 4 Claudio Corti (ITA-Suzuki Alstare), 5 Mahr (AUT-Suzuki), 6 Baz (FRA-Yamaha).

Championship Points: 1 Simeon 200, 2 Claudio Corti (ITA-Suzuki Alstare) 148, 3 Berger 127, 4 Fores 116, 5 Beretta 85, 6 Barrier 83.

Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi qualified for tomorrow’s Estoril Grand Prix on the front of the third row after a promising session in Portugal today.

Capirossi (P7, 1′37.489, 30 laps) was pleased with the progress that his latest incarnation of the Suzuki GSV-R made during today’s session, as he continued to make improvements. Capirossi was determined to test his bike to the full during this afternoon’s hour-long qualifying session, recording more laps of the 4,182m Estoril circuit than any other rider.

He is confident of a good race tomorrow and is sure that the advances made with the new bike will enable him to challenge for a competitive finish tomorrow. Seventh place on the grid signals Capirossi’s best grid position for seven races – since he qualified in sixth at Assen in June.

Chris Vermeulen (P15, 38.342, 29 laps) was still suffering with his back injury today, but he wasn’t hampered by it too much as he completed 29 laps during this afternoon’s qualifying. Vermeulen was pleased with the improvements that were made to his bike, but disappointed to be back on the fifth row of the grid. He will be pushing as hard as he can from the start tomorrow to reconcile that grid position as he aims to score valuable championship points.

Today’s qualifying was held in warm and sunny conditions with a gentle breeze keeping temperatures at a pleasant 25ºC.

Jorge Lorenzo took his fifth pole position of the season on his factory Yamaha with team-mate and World Championship leader Valentino Rossi in second place on the grid.
Tomorrow’s 28-lap race is the 14th event on this season’s calendar and it will get going at 13.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Loris Capirossi:

“Overall it’s been ok for us today; we made some improvements this morning and tried to continue with that this afternoon. We changed a few things on the bike and the whole team worked well to make things better for me. We have got a bit of vibration from the front and we need to resolve that, but other than that we are quite competitive. I want to say thank-you to Suzuki, because normally this is one of the worst tracks for us and we have improved a lot on the rear grip – which was a big problem in the past – and the new package we have is much better. We have improved on top speed as well; we are now quite competitive and for us this is great and a very important step forward.”

Chris Vermeulen:

 ”We made some good changes to the bike today and consistently improved on the lap-time. We ran both the compounds of tyres on the front and rear this afternoon and we’ve got a reasonable race set-up. I’m a bit disappointed in actual performance because I just couldn’t quite get the lap-time I wanted, but I was able to achieve the one I did quite easily so we should be able to run at that pace all race. Hopefully I’ll get a good start and make up a few places early on and have a good race.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“We hoped yesterday that overnight changes would see both of the guys find a reasonable amount of lap-time and we’ve managed to achieve that. Chris has never been ‘Captain Qualifier’ and today was a disappointing result, which without any question he will improve upon tomorrow. With Loris, we still haven’t got the optimum set-up for the new GSV-R and we’re struggling a bit with consistency as we go from track to track, but he showed a lot of determination to pull out a good lap at the end of the session. It was a bit ragged and you definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be sitting on the back, but now we have achieved more outright speed we hope we can smooth some things out tomorrow morning in warm-up and then have a decent Grand Prix in the afternoon.”

bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal Qualifying Practice Classification: 1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1′36.214: 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.260: 3. Casey Stoner (Ducati) +0.314: 4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.488: 5. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +0.928. 7. Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +1.275. 15. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +2.128.

Pyblished by: Paul.v.D. webmaster@gsx-r.eu

Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen are both confident that the information they gained from today’s only practice session will help them improve on their race-pace throughout the remainder of this Estoril Grand Prix weekend.

Capirossi (P12, 1′38.978, 24 laps) tried a radical setting on his Suzuki GSV-R at the beginning of this afternoon’s session and with his crew he will be reviewing the data overnight to see where important changes can be made to find extra tenths-of-second to push him further up the leader-board. Capirossi changed to his other GSV-R later in the session, with a more conventional setting, and quickly improved on his times – setting his fastest time on his very last lap.

Vermeulen (P16, 1′39.686, 24 laps) overcame acute  back pain following a training accident – which required x-rays this morning to check everything was ok – to fight his way through the session and give him the confidence to push harder with each passing lap. Vermeulen will now rest overnight and hope that he is in a much fitter state to wrestle his Suzuki GSV-R around the 4,182m Estoril track tomorrow.

Under cloudy skies, but warm temperatures, where the track surface reached the high 30ºCs, Jorge Lorenzo on his factory Yamaha set the fastest time of the day.

Rizla Suzuki has one more free session tomorrow morning, followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 28-lap race gets underway at 13.00 local time (12.00hrs GMT).

Loris Capirossi:

“It was a bit of a strange practice today for us. The condition of the track was not too bad and we started the session with an unusual setting that put more load on the rear tyre, we didn’t really find that it worked that well for us, but we were able to understand what is needed. On the last run I went out on my other bike and it had a different set-up and I was able to go a bit quicker. I think for us it was a difficult practice today, but it has given us a lot of ideas to do a lot better tomorrow – for sure I will be a lot faster!.”

Chris Vermeulen:

“It was a bit difficult in the beginning, because I hurt my back in Australia about a week ago and it didn’t make things very comfortable on the bike. It was tough to move around at first, but after a couple of changes to the settings things became a lot easier. We ran the softer compound tyre on the front and rear all session and my lap-times were getting quicker all the time. Towards the end of the hour I changed to my other bike – which had a different geometry setting – but unfortunately we had a couple of issues with that one and I had to come in early, losing a bit of track-time in the process. I am sure if I can get a bit fitter for tomorrow, we will be able to qualify well, because the bike feels as if it is in really good shape.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“It is difficult to draw too many real positives from today’s free practice session, other than we hope Chris will be in a much better condition tomorrow, and that we will be able to make a big step with the GSV-R following the things we learnt today. One area we have struggled with in the past here at Estoril is the final corner – in terms of generating enough grip – and with the new evolution of the bike that problem does seem to be largely solved. If we can now take a decent step overnight we should be in a position to make a good improvement around the whole racetrack and find a decent chunk of time.”

bwin.com Grande Premio de Portugal Free Practice Classification: 1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1′37.185: 2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.359: 3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.421: 4. Casey Stoner (Ducati) +0.781: 5. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +0.918. 12. Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +1.793. 16. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) +2.501.

Published; Paul.v.D. webmaster@gsx-r.eu

Northern Ireland-based TAS Racing is pleased to announce that both antipodean road racing stars, Cameron Donald and Bruce Anstey, will be retained for the 2010 international road racing season.

Managed by father and son pairing, Hector and Philip Neill, Relentless Suzuki by TAS Racing is already in the planning process for 2010 with their Superbike machinery nearing completion. The team’s official race schedule will be announced in the coming weeks, but an early season series of tests have already been pencilled in for February 2010.

Both Donald and Anstey will major their 2010 season’s on the international road races, but will also compete in a number of hand-picked British Superstock rounds and local events, to improve their chances of adding to the team’s long list of international road racing achievements.

Philip Neill - Team Principal:

“As per normal, there were lots of rumours suggesting we would change riders for 2010, or that Bruce and Cameron would change teams. I am prepared to admit, that although we had podium finishes in all three international road races and a North West 200 race win with Alastair in 2009, it was a little short of what is expected from TAS Racing.

“As the most successful international road racing team in recent years, with 15 Isle of Man TT, 12 North West 200 and 11 Ulster Grand Prix victories, we set a very high standard for ourselves.

“Although we did consider other options for 2010, along with our partners Suzuki and Relentless, my Father and I always had the desire to remain with the same riders for the international races next season.

“I would like to take this opportunity to welcome both riders back for our next assault on the international road racing scene. It will be Bruce’s eighth with TAS Racing and Cameron’s third; and in closing I’d also like to thank our long-standing partners for their continued support.”

Published, Paul.v.D. webmaster@gsx-r.eu

With regular rider Max Neukirchner not quite ready for his race return, Aussie Karl Muggeridge will once again partner Suzuki Alstare Brux rider Yukio Kagayama this coming weekend for the 12th round of the World Superbike Championship at Imola in Italy.

Muggeridge deputised for the German in the last round at the Nurburgring and is no stranger to Suzuki Alstare, so was the logical choice to ride in Italy.  Neukirchner, however, will travel to Imola and will consult with the Clinica Mobile before a decision is made as to whether or not he will make his return at the following round in Magny-Cours next week.
 
Since the Superbike World Championship was last in Imola in 2006, the circuit has undergone several modifications, including a completely different approach to the final chicane and entrance to the pits. Kagayama has tested this new layout, at a Top Teams test back in July, but for Muggeridge, it will be his first time racing the new design, so he will have to spend the first practice learning the track before he can attack it.

Yukio Kagayama:

“We tested here in July and I think that the changes may be better for cars than they are for bikes. The approach to the final chicane is not so good for us and I hope that nobody crashes in this area, especially if they are in a group of riders. But of course, the track is the same for all of us and I, like everybody, will be doing the best we can. 

“In the last round, we made a radical change to the bike and it worked out pretty well, so this is where we will start from in first practice. I am hoping that we can be more competitive this coming weekend because I really want to do well again. Sometimes this season has been a bit frustrating, so it would be good to have some positive results in Imola and then more of the same in the last two rounds.”

Karl Muggeridge:

“It’s great to get another opportunity to race for Suzuki Alstare Brux and I hope that now that I know the bike a bit better I can give them better results. There was a lot for me to learn in the Nurburgring and I will continue this process in Imola. I will be at a disadvantage to most – if not all of – the top riders because they tested in July and so they will know the new layout better than me. I am looking forward to working with the whole team again and repaying their faith in me. I would like to wish Max all the best and hope his recovery has gone well and he returns soon. In the meantime, I will do the best I can.”

Published by; Paul.v.D. (webmaster@gsx-r.eu)

Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Mat Mladin celebrated his AMA Superbike swan song with a podium appearance at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey, on Sunday afternoon.

Seven-time AMA Superbike Champion Mladin announced his retirement from AMA Superbike racing earlier this season and this weekend’s double-header event marked the end of the newly-crowned 2009 AMA Superbike Champion’s career.

Seven-time AMA Superbike Champion Mladin announced his retirement from AMA Superbike racing earlier this season and this weekend’s double-header event marked the end of the newly-crowned 2009 AMA Superbike Champion’s career.

In Saturday’s race, Mladin was in a battle for the lead when he crashed out of the race. On Sunday, he raced his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 as hard as ever and battled for the lead for most of the race before finishing in an impressive second place. Mladin was joined on the podium by Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates in third place. Yates and Mladin and Rockstar Makita Suzuki team mate Tommy Hayden had all been battling for podium spots and Hayden was actually making a pass for the lead when he crashed out of the race.

Finally, Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young finished up the weekend in ninth place after struggling a bit with throughout the weekend.

Mat Mladin:

“It’s been a good weekend but everything comes on to an end. I have had a fantastic career but it’s time to spend some more time with my family and move on to other areas of my life. This weekend, we had a really good race and I felt really good for most of it. I really didn’t want to be in second place, I wanted to lead and do as much as I could from the front. I felt a little pressure from Josh Hayes in a couple of spots, but we had a good race today and we put in as much as we could… It was a good, fun race and I’m looking forward to hanging ‘em up, moving on.”

Aaron Yates:

“It feels really good to end the year with a couple of decent finishes. It feels really good to be up and running with these guys. We’ve gone back and forth with our bike… It was a really good race, it was a lot of fun. I was going back and forth with Mat and there was no way to get around him again on that last lap.”

Blake Young:

“Starting as far back as we did definitely makes the weekend tough and that showed in both races. It’s pretty hard to get up front and mix it up with those guys when you’re starting from the third row. But I was happy with the weekend because we saw improvement throughout the whole weekend, even though it was tough come race time. But we tried our best. Today the bike was working good – we just struggled trying to get around some of the guys — but lap times were good and I was happy with the way the race was going. It’s not the best result we’ve had all year, but we learned a lot for off-season testing and we’ll come back stronger next year.”

Tommy Hayden:

“It was a fun race, I was having a good time. It was interesting to watch and there was a lot of passing. I really wanted to win a race before the year was over and I wanted to try and get second in the championship and I knew that one would take care of the other. Josh was riding good and hard and Mat was too. It came down to the end and I thought it was going to be me and Josh and I thought that was pretty cool – kind of the way it’s supposed to be in the last race: two guys are battling it out and they’re the two guys who are battling for overall positions. I just made a little mistake, went in a corner a little too hot and lost the front. It’s a shame. On the one hand, I’m bummed and on the other hand, I left it all out there and that was one thing I wanted to make sure and do today. We learned a lot and we’re looking forward to next year.”

AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers:

1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Mat Mladin (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
3. Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki)
4. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
5. Neil Hodgson (Honda)
6. Jake Holden (Honda)
7. Cory West (Buell)
8. Damian Cudlin (Suzuki)
9. Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
10. Geoff May (National Guard Jordan Suzuki)

Published by; Paul.v.D. (webmaster@gsx-r.eu)

Team Suzuki Alstare Brux riders Yukio Kagayama and Karl Muggeridge struggled in both 20-lappers at the Nurburgring World Superbike round in Germany today, with Kagayama’s 10th-place in race two their best finish.

After qualifying and Superpole, today was always going to be a tough one for the duo, especially for Muggeridge, who was racing the Suzuki Alstare Brux GSX-R1000 K9 for the very first time. 

Yukio Kagayama  – Race 1: 15th, Race 2: 10th:

“My start in race was not so bad, but after only five laps my rear tyre had no grip at all. For a few laps, I tried to push just as hard as normal, but after many near crashes I had to change my riding style and be more steady. So that’s what I did and I was able to get to the end of the race. Between race one and race two, my team and I decided to try a set-up we had never used in a race before. It was a big gamble and for me it was a bit of a scary feeling because I did not know what would happen. I made a good start and was surprised because the feeling was not so bad and I could lap one second a lap faster then the first race! This setting makes me feel a lot more positive about the next race in Imola and now I am looking forward to seeing if it will work as well as we hope.”

Karl  Muggeridge – Race 1: 12th, Race 2: DNF:

“I am disappointed about my crash in race two because my intention was to bring the bike home in both races today. I made a good start from row five in race one and moved up the field a bit, but soon I began having rear grip problems. This meant that the electronics had to work overtime to cope with the problem, and that slowed the bike down. We softened the rear for race two and the grip was better and I was able to lap more quickly. I hadn’t made such a good start this time, so I had to work hard to get up to the group ahead. I decided to try and adjust the engine braking and maybe I changed the run-in to the corners too much and I lost the front. I hadn’t entered the corner any faster than before but I had changed the characteristics of the braking and that probably caused my crash. I suppose it was my mistake really because I think I could’ve got another 12th or better finish otherwise. But I have enjoyed working with the team and hope to get another chance sometime.”

WSB Results:

Race 1: 1 Spies (USA-Yamaha), 2 Haga (JPN-Ducati), 3 C Checa (ESP-Honda), 4 Rea (GBR-Honda), 5 Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia), 6 Haslam (GBR-Honda). 12 Karl Muggeridge (AUS-Suzuki Alstare Brux). 15 Yukio Kagayama (JPN-Suzuki Alstare Brux).

Race 2:1 Rea, 2 Spies, 3 C Checa, 4 Biaggi, 5 Haslam, 6 Corser (AUS-BMW). 10 Yukio Kagayama (JPN-Suzuki Alstare Brux). Karl Muggeridge (AUS-Suzuki Alstare Brux) DNF.

WSB Points: 1 Spies 364, 2 Haga 346, 3 Fabrizio 289, 4 Rea 244, 5 Biaggi 224, 6 Haslam 201. 12 Yukio Kagayama (JPN-Suzuki Alstare Brux). 15 Max Neukirchner (D-Suzuki Alstare Brux) 75. 29 Karl Muggeridge (AUS-Suzuki Alstare Brux) 8.

SUPERSTOCK 1000:

Team Suzuki Alstare Brux rider Claudio Corti battled his way up from the fourth row of the grid in the seventh round of this year’s Superstock 1000 FIM Cup at the Nurburgring today to take a hard-fought for fifth place.

Xavi Simeon (Ducati) won the 11-lap race, nearly three seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Maxime Berger (Honda), with Javi Fores (Kawasaki) third.

Claudio Corti - 5th:

“Today was not so easy, but I made a good start and was eighth at the end of the first lap. I had no big problems with my bike in the race, but my main problem was Daniele Beretta. He held me up for a long time and by the time I forced my way past him there was not enough time to catch Giugliano in front. So fifth is not so bad, but it could’ve been even better and that is why I am a bit disappointed today.”

Superstock 1000 Results: 1 Simeon (BEL-Ducati), 2 Berger (FRA-Honda), 3 Fores (ESP-Kawasaki), 4 Giugliano (ITA-Suzuki), 5 Claudio Corti (ITA-Suzuki Alstare Brux), 6 Beretta (ITA-Ducati).

Championship Points: 1 Simeon 155, 2 Claudio Corti (Suzuki Alstare Brux) 115, 3 Berger 102, 4 Fores 100, 5 Barrier 67, 6 Beretta 66.

Published by; Paul.v.D. (webmaster@gsx-r.eu)

Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Tommy Hayden brought home an impressive second-place finish at the first-ever AMA Superbike race at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, New Jersey, on Saturday afternoon.

In the first of two Superbike races of the double-header weekend, Hayden got a decent start on his Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 and was in position to card a podium finish for most of the race. After running in third and battling with Jordan Suzuki’s Aaron Yates, Hayden took over the second position. He and Yates continued to battle until the 23-lap race’s end, with Hayden in second and Yates in third.

Rockstar Makita Suzuki team mate and newly-crowned 2009 AMA Superbike Champion Mat Mladin got a great start on his GSXR1000 and was battling back and forth for the lead when he crashed out while in the lead. Unhurt, Mladin did not finish the race.

Finally Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Blake Young struggled a bit with the New Jersey heat and finished up in seventh place.

Tommy Hayden:

“The race went all right. The guys shot out of there pretty fast, especially Mat. I was having a little bit of trouble getting going and got shuffled back to fifth or sixth. I was able to fight back there at the end. It seemed like I felt all right, those guys just stretched it out too much… It’s all right, second again. It’s not super-exciting for me but I feel like I rode pretty good. The Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 was good and hopefully tomorrow we’ll have one more chance to make something happen.”

Aaron Yates:

“I was definitely trying in this race. At the beginning a couple guys got away and I was trying to put in some good laps. But I just couldn’t get the pace down there where I needed it to be. The front-runners were just inching away and I ended up in a race for second… We have a couple of things to work on with our Jordan Suzuki bikes – it’s getting around pretty good but we need to pick up a little grip in the rear, I think, so we can go faster out here in the heat.”

Blake Young:

“It wasn’t a great race but I improved some from qualifying. I got an OK start and just tried to put in some good laps. The Rockstar Makita Suzuki GSX-R1000 was working pretty good but I think there are some things we can make better for the heat. It was pretty tough out there, but we learned some things today that I think will help us tomorrow and maybe we’ll get a better result.”

Mat Mladin:

“It started out as a good race. I was pushing pretty hard but I lost the front and crashed. We’ll get it all sorted out tonight and then tomorrow we’ll have another go.”

AMA Superbike Top 10 Finishers:

1. Josh Hayes (Yamaha)
2. Tommy Hayden (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
3. Aaron Yates (Jordan Suzuki)
4. Ben Bostrom (Yamaha)
5. Larry Pegram (Ducati)
6. Taylor Knapp (Buell)
7. Blake Young (Rockstar Makita Suzuki)
8. Cory West (Buell)
9. Damian Cudlin (Suzuki)
10. Geoff May (National Guard Jordan Suzuki)

Published by; Paul.v.D. (webmaster@gsx-r.eu)