FRUSTRATING DAY FOR KAGAYAMA AT BRNO |
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Team
Suzuki Alstare Brux rider Yukio Kagayama has endured
a frustrating day in the 10th round of the Superbike
World Championship in Brno in the Czech Republic.
Having been unable to find a
good bike set-up in practice, today's two races were
always going to be hard work, so he certainly didn't
a crash not of his own making: On lap 15 of race two,
he was right behind John Hopkins going into a right-hander,
when suddenly Hopkins slowed without warning. Kagayama
hit the rear of the American's Honda and crashed.
This followed a 14th in race one and left him feeling
disappointed and frustrated.
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Max Biaggi (Aprilia)
won the first race after Michel Fabrizio (Ducati)
crashed and took out Ben Spies (Yamaha) after only
four laps. Honda team mates Carlos Checa and Jonathan
Rea finished in second and third, with Shane Byrne
(Ducati) fourth. Spies made up for his first race
disappointment by winning the second race, to close
the gap on series leader Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) to
just seven points. Second was Biaggi, with fellow
Roman Fabrizio third.
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Yukio Kagayama - Race 1: 14th,
Race 2: DNF:
"All year we have had problems
trying to find good set-ups at the track and this weekend
was no exception. And sometimes we have also had big problems
with grip. In the morning warm-up we found a good tyre and
I could do 2:001 lap times easily. So we chose the same
tyre for the first race and it didn't work at all! It was
sliding around right from the start of the race and I couldn't
push hard at all. I wanted to go faster, but I couldn't
turn the bike and kept missing my apexes. After five laps
of fighting, I decided to go as fast as I could without
crashing and that's what I did.
"We used a different tyre in race
two and it was a bit better, but after a while it started
chattering. I got caught in a group and I just couldn't
overtake anybody because I had to be careful on the brakes.
I was just behind Hopkins when his bike suddenly slowed
in the corner and I hit him. I don't think it was his fault;
something went on his bike, but it's just my luck that I
fell and he didn't!"
WSB Results:
Race 1: 1 Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia),
2 C Checa (ESP-Honda), 3 Rea (GBR-Honda), 4 Byrne (GBR-Ducati),
5 Corser (AUS-BMW), 6 Smrz (CZE-Ducati). 14 Yukio Kagayama
(JPN-Suzuki Alstare Brux).
Race 2: 1 Spies (USA-Yamaha),
2 Biaggi, 3 Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati), 4 Rea, 5 C Checa, 6 Haga
(JPN-Ducati). Yukio Kagayama (JPN-Suzuki Alstare Brux) DNF.
Championship Points: 1
Haga 326, 2 Spies 319, 3 Fabrizio 273, 4 Rea 206, 5 Biaggi
200, 6 Haslam 180. 12 Yukio Kagayama (JPN-Suzuki Alstare
Brux) 96.
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