SERT EXTENDS ENDURANCE LEAD - Team Suzuki Press Office - May 11.
Defending World Endurance Champions Suzuki Endurance Racing Team have extended their lead in the 2008 championship by taking victory at the 6 Horas Nocturnas de Albacete in Spain.

Vincent Philippe, Julien Da Costa and Guillaume Dietrich race their GSX-R1000 to a two-lap victory ahead of Spanish privateers Josep Sarda, Kenny Noyes and Bernat Martinez of the Suzuki Catala team and Bolliger Switzerland's David Morillon, Patric Muff and Horst Saiger.

For a long time Yamaha Austria Racing Team was a contender for the podium, but ended up in fourth place after Steve Martin and Igor Jerman crashed. However, YART managed to stay ahead of Endurance Moto 38 and Qatar Endurance Racing Team IJT. The Suzuki of QERT IJT finished in sixth place and first in the Superstock class. The team is now leading the Superstock FIM World Cup.

The race had a high number of crashes due to permanent and heavy rainfalls and the "6 Horas Nocturnas" was the wettest of all history of racing in Albacete. During six hours, the teams had to face a cold rain, unusual for this time of the year in Spain, and the safety car was brought out for two laps due to the bad weather.

The next event of the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship will take place in July 27th: the 8 Hours of Suzuka in Japan.

Provisional Results: 1 SERT (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 177 laps, 2 Suzuki Catala (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 175, 3 Bolliger Team Switzerland (Kawasaki) 175, 4 Yamaha Austria Racing (Yamaha) 173, 5 Endurance Moto 38 (Yamaha) 172, 6 Maco Moto 38 (Yamaha) 171, 7 Team Kawasaki France (Kawasaki) 171, 8 RT Racing Team Motovirus (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 170, 9 YMES Folch Endurance (Yamaha) 170, 10 RMT 21 Racing Team (Honda) 170.

Championship points (after 2 rounds): http://www.suzuki-racing.com/championship_points.aspx?SRS_ID=8

 NEUKIRCHNER ON MONZA FRONT ROW - Team Suzuki Press Office - May 10.
It took a new lap record by series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) to deprive Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner of a Superpole win at the Monza World Superbike fifth round today. 

Bayliss smashed Noriyuki Haga's 2007 time by well over a second to take his third Superpole win of the season.

Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama thought his Superpole lap was a fast one but was disappointed to find out he'd set the fifth quickest time instead. His team mate Fonsi Nieto made a big improvement in today's practice and qualifying sessions and will start tomorrow's pair of 18-lappers from the second row of the grid.

Max Neukirchner - 2nd, 1:45.287:
"I'm really happy today because I think we have a good bike set-up and I'm ready for the races. My engine felt strong today and although I made a small mistake in Superpole I'm happy to be on the front row of the grid. Monza is a fast track and I hope to enjoy myself and have some fun tomorrow.

Yukio Kagayama - 5th, 1:45.777:
"It's funny but I really thought that my Superpole was a good one and that it was fast also. But when I saw the times I realised that it had only been good enough for fifth position and I was disappointed. Today we did a lot of good work and tested many tyres so we have a good idea of what set-up to use tomorrow. Maybe we'll make some small adjustments in the warm-up tomorrow morning but the bike is pretty good at the moment, so the rest is up to me!"

Fonsi Nieto - 7th, 1:45.942:
"Yesterday, I think I lost my way a bit so I feel that my weekend only started today. Now my bike is getting better and although I still have problems in two corners, we are going in the right direction. This racetrack is strange and there are many different points, like braking and slipstreaming, to consider.  We more or less know which tyres we will use, but a lot depends on the weather. But anyway, I'm a lot happier today than I was yesterday."

Final WSB qualifying: 1 Bayliss (AUS-Ducati) 1.44.931, 2 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki) 1.45.28, 3 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1.45.665, 4 Checa (ESP-Honda) 1.45.766, 5 Yukio Kagayama (J-Suzuki Alstare) 1.45.777, 6 Xaus (ESP-Ducati) 1.45.795,  7 Fonsi Nieto (E-Suzuki Alstare) 1.45.942, Kiyonari (J-Honda) 1.45.975, 9 Biaggi (I-Ducati) 1.46.039, 10 Muggeridge (AUS-Honda)  1.46.065.

SUPERSTOCK 1000:
Team Alstare Suzuki rider Xavi Simeon will start tomorrow's third round of the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup from the third row of the grid after problems today.
 
The team changed the engine braking characteristics in order to help Xavi in a particular corner but unfortunately it caused problems in the other corners and he couldn't push as hard as he wanted. But the lap times of the top 10 are very close and if Xavi had gone just two-tenths-of-a-second quicker he would've ended up on the front row of the grid!

Italian Claudio Corti (Yamaha) set the day's fastest lap with Michele Pirro (Yamaha) second, Davide Giugliano (Suzuki) third and Michele Magnoni (Yamaha) fourth.

Xavi Simeon- 10th, 1:49.648:
"Obviously I am disappointed to be on the third row but the lap times are close and I could've just as easily ended up on the front row. Now it's going to be a bit like Valencia when I started low down but still managed a podium. Here though, I was hoping for a good qualifying and being able to challenge for the win, not just the podium. We altered the engine braking today, but it caused more problems than it solved, so we will go back to more or less what we had before. Today my bike didn't feel as fast in a straight line as my rivals, but my rhythm has been smooth and I think I can do consistently -lap times.
Tomorrow I need a good start in the race so that I can be with the leaders straightaway. If I can do that, who knows what could happen? Maybe another podium?"

Final Superstock 1000 qualifying: 1 Corti (I-Yamaha) 1:48.545, 2 Pirro (I-Yamaha) 1:49.199, 3 Giugliano (I-Suzuki) 1:49.282, 4 Magnoni (I-Yamaha) 1:49.417, 5 Schouten (NL-Yamaha) 1:49.492, 6 Tiberio (F-Kawasaki) 1:49.512. 10 Xavi Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki) 1:49.648.   

  SYKES 4TH ON BRANDS BSB GRID - Team Suzuki Press Office - May 10.
Tom Sykes and Atsushi Watanabe used today's additional free practice time at the rescheduled Brands Hatch GP round, to work on fine tuning their Rizla Suzukis giving them a competitive set-up ahead of tomorrow's Bennetts British Superbike Championship double header.

Soaring temperatures at the 2.3 mile Kent circuit allowed Rizla Suzuki's racers to make the most of the two 30-minute free practice sessions. Sykes finished in fifth place, steadily working through changes on both his Rizla Suzuki race bikes. Watanabe came home in 18th on his return to the challenging track.

Round one, at the Brands Hatch GP circuit, which was originally scheduled for Sunday April 6th will take place tomorrow on Sunday May 11th.

The grid was set from the positions achieved at that event, however both Rizla Suzuki riders have moved up one position on the grid due to the injured Karl Harris withdrawing from the event, so Sykes will start from fourth place and Watanabe will line up in eighth.
Race one will commence at 1315 with race two at 1620.

Tom Sykes:
"We worked on different settings on both my Rizla Suzukis during free practice one, and then married the best bits from each bike into one for the second session. Overall I'm pleased with the outcome. My Rizla Suzuki technicians have some changes to make before warm-up tomorrow which will improve my race set-up even further. Brands Hatch is a tough circuit and these changes will allow me to push the front end as hard as I need to here."

Atsushi Watanabe:
"I know Brands Hatch now, I need to fine-tune my Rizla Suzuki and fine-tune Atsu. The high temperatures have made it more difficult to find grip but my Rizla Suzuki technicians have some changes for warm-up tomorrow. I'm looking forward to racing here at last - it will be a big challenge."

Jack Valentine - Rizla Suzuki Team Manager:
 "We've had two productive sessions on track today. We have already visited Brands Hatch this year so we have our settings from that event. We also found a good set-up at Oulton Park; we've put these together for Tom and with these race settings I feel very positive for tomorrow. We have a few very small changes to make tonight which we will run in morning warm-up.

"Atsu also worked on both his machines today. At the moment he needs a little more work on set-up, however his Rizla Suzuki technicians have a direction to go in so we will see an improvement in warm-up."

Grid positions:
1: Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1:25.832
2: Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 1:26.155
3: Leon Haslam (Honda) 1:26.552
4: Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) 1:26.641
5: Leon Camier (Ducati) 1:26.833
6: Simon Andrews (Yamaha) 1:26.926
7: Michael Rutter (Ducati) 1:26.974
8: Atsushi Watanabe (Rizla Suzuki) 1:27.893
9: Michael Laverty (Suzuki) 1:27.937
10: Billy McConnell (Kawasaki) 1:28.206

Tamada And Laconi Make Real Progress - Monza, Italy, 10 May 2008
PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse riders Makoto Tamada and Régis Laconi found their Ninja ZX-10R machinery generally well-suited to the Monza circuit in qualifying.

Earlier today Laconi was second fastest going into Superpole and Tamada was right on the pace on the opening day.

Superpole qualifying was not so kind to either rider, with Laconi eventually 11th fastest, losing nine places compared to his earlier superb performance. Tamada was fourth fastest on day one, tenth quickest on day two, then 14th after Superpole.

Laconi will now start on the third row of the grid; Tamada on row four, ahead of Jakub Smrz and Gregorio Lavilla.

Each Kawasaki rider is ready for the challenge ahead on raceday, after final checks and adjustments in morning warm-up. The spectre of at least some wet weather cannot be ruled out for raceday, despite the first two days being run in glorious spring sunshine.

Regis Laconi: “Compared to this morning the bike has improved and I feel more confident. The strange thing is that I used a qualifying tyre but didn’t improve my time, because the grip didn’t seem to increase. I made a good fast lap in Superpole but I’m still more than a second from the leading rider. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. I heard it could be raining, and I usually don’t dislike riding in the wet, but in this case I would prefer a dry track. It is too dangerous considering the speeds we reach here.”

Makoto Tamada: “During the morning session today I wanted to use certain tyres, but we preferred not to use them and keep them for later. At the end of the session I felt it difficult to increase my speed. The engine is not performing quite the way we thought in some areas and we had a small problem during the afternoon session. I’m annoyed that I couldn’t maintain yesterday’s performance. I know tomorrow will be better and we’ll solve everything. I hope it won’t rain as this track will become very dangerous for all the riders if it does.”

 http://www.kawasaki-racingteam.eu/road-race/psg-1/news.asp?Id=B6332CCCCE&PMId=0F224ABF2773 

 Fujiwara Top ZX-6R Rider In Qualifying - Monza, Italy, 10 May 2008
Katsuaki Fujiwara (GIL Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R) secured 13th place on the Monza starting grid for Sunday’s 16-lap race, with a best time of 1’51.357.

The Japanese star set his best time in the second qualifying session, having made progress in his set-up at this fastest track of the season. He made an impro