SUZUKI RACING:

After yesterday’s rainy conditions at the Nurburgring World Superbike 11th round in Germany, today’s sessions took place in the dry, although the wind and cloud cover kept the temperatures well down.

Yukio Kagayama, Karl Muggeridge and all the riders had to begin today’s morning qualifying session with a dry set-up for the first time this weekend and while Kagayama could fall back on his and the team’s knowledge, Muggeridge had to start from fresh to find a good set-up and post a top-20 time in just 45 minutes.

It was always going to be a tough task, but he rode superbly and managed to set the eighth-quickest time. Unfortunately things didn’t go so well in Superpole 1 and he failed to get into Superpole 2 by just one place.

Kagayama did manage to get into Superpole 2, but was unable to advance any further.

Yukio Kagayama – 13th, 1:56.901:

“As it was dry this morning, we began with the dry set-up from our last race in Brno, but it didn’t work as well as we wanted so we had to start making changes. In the afternoon untimed session we tried some different spring settings to improve the bike, but maybe our direction was not so good because I could not go any faster.

“Superpole today was like the rest of the season and although we have tried many different ideas and changed many things this year I don’t think we have solved the problem. It is frustrating for sure, but tomorrow is race day and my job is to race as hard as I can and do my best. This I will do, as usual.”

Karl Muggeridge – 17th, 1:57.515:

“Basically, we had to start afresh this morning because of the dry conditions and as it was my first time on the bike in the dry we had to do a lot of work in a very short time. So I was quite happy about what we achieved in such a short space of time.

“I think that we changed a few too many things in the afternoon session and maybe I put too much pressure on myself in Superpole. I felt unsure about what was happening on the bike. Then it became harder to go faster and so I couldn’t get into Superpole 2. We will consolidate our good findings in the warm-up tomorrow morning and get the bike back into a state where I can ride hard and push for a good result.”