SUZUKI RACING:

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.

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.

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!”