TIMES IMPROVE FOR RIZLA SUZUKI2008-04-18 09:21Rizla Suzuki's Tom Sykes and Atsushi Watanabe got their team's home round off to a good start today during free practice for the second round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Thruxton in Hampshire, finishing in fifth and 19th places respectively. Sykes improved his lap times by 0.8secs between free practice one and two, while his team-mate Watanabe knocked an impressive 1.4secs off his time as he got to grips with the fastest track on the calendar. "We are just refining my Rizla Suzuki's set-up now," explained a confident Sykes. "We have a good direction to go in. However, there are two or three corners where I'm not so strong. Once we get to the bottom of that I will be able to push harder. I'm fast in the first sector so we need to concentrate on the second sector, we will find the cure and be up there for sure." The high speed 2.4 mile track is a new challenge for two times Japanese Superbike Champion Watanabe. He said: "I am still learning; the circuit is very, very fast but the lay-out is easy. It has a different feeling to Brands Hatch and is very bumpy. My lap times improved but my result has not and I'm not so happy with this. I got my fastest lap early in the session, then I tried a new tyre and think I should go faster but I didn't improve. It is a very wide and fast track; there are lots of lines, but I need to find Atsushi line." Team Manager Jack Valentine was happy with how free practice went. He said: "We were working on tyre duration and we have further improvements to make so I know we can step up. I'm pleased with how Atsushi has dropped his times as he is in at the deep end again learning a new circuit. I've looked at our lap times we are definitely in contention with the front runners and our Rizla Suzukis are up there on top speed too. I'm looking forward to tomorrow; I just hope it stays dry for qualifying. We have had two good sessions today and I know we have a good race set-up I'm confident we will improve." The fastest time was set by Honda's Cal Crutchlow with a time of 1min15.071secs. Third free practice takes place tomorrow at 10.25 followed by a 50-minute qualifying session at 14.15. Practice Times: 1: Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 1:15.071 2: Leon Haslam (Honda) +0.581 3: Karl Harris (Yamaha) +0.721 4: Shane Byrne (Ducati) +0.899 5: Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) +1.040 6: Michael Rutter (Ducati) +1.081 7: Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +1.619 8: Simon Andrews (Yamaha) +1.900 9: John Laverty C (Ducati) +2.112 10: Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +2.132 19: Atsushi Watanabe (Rizla Suzuki) +3.172 Source: Team Suzuki Press Office Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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