World Superbikes Rd 4: Suzuki & Honda share spoils

Pier Francesco Chili, Klaffi Honda, Race 1 - 7th, Race 2 - 7th: "In the second race I had a better start and I could see the leaders and stay on the back of them for a while. I was riding behind Toseland and I only then I noticed that there was a little difference between my bike and the rest. The general problem is that there is not enough grip on the back and that is stopping us driving off the corners better."

Andrew Pitt, Yamaha Motor Italia, Race 1 - 5th, Race 2 - 6th : “We are chipping away at it every weekend and improving every time out. I just couldn’t get right with Toseland in race two, because I didn’t have the drive out of the corner that he had. I could make it up in the entries but he would get it back on the exits. The main thing is that we’re getting the front tyres to last now and that has given me confidence in the front for the whole race."

Noriyuki Haga, Yamaha Motor Italia, Race 1 - 11th, Race 2 - 9th : “I changed to a medium tyre on the rear and I think it worked well but we still don’t have a perfect balance on the bike. So it was not enough to let me challenge. The engine was better in the first race but in race two I changed the bike and it was not quite so quick as the first one."

Massimo Meregalli, Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia: “Like Andrew says, every time we are making improvements and when I saw how difficult it was for the Ducatis to pass Andrew on the straights I could see that we are working in the right direction. If we continue like this then I think the podium is a possibility."

Norick Abe, Yamaha Motor France, Race 1 - 10th, Race 2 - 12th: "It was the first time for me at Monza but every day I improved. In the first race things were not so bad but I did not have a good feeling from the front end. If this was fixed I think I could have gone five tenths faster each lap. So we modified the settings for race two - but it was even worse than race one."

Martial Garcia, Team Manager, Yamaha Motor France: “For the first time we were happy about qualifying at the right time because at the end the riders both made superpole. But for the race we expected more. It was a real shame for Sebastien because a stone went through his radiator and all the water leaked out. After the first lap the temperature went almost to maximum. We have to forget about this one and move on to Silverstone.”

Superbike Race 1: (Laps 18 = 104,274 Km) Pos /Rider /Nat. /Team / Time /Gap 1 / T. CORSER / AUS / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 32'40.906 / 2 / Y. KAGAYAMA / JPN / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 32'41.891 / 0.985 3 / J. TOSELAND / GBR / Ducati Xerox / 32'41.946 / 1.040 4 / R. LACONI / FRA / Ducati Xerox / 32'42.663 / 1.757 5 / A. PITT / AUS / Yamaha Motor Italia WSB / 32'49.515 / 8.609 6 / K. MUGGERIDGE / AUS / Winston Ten Kate Honda / 32'53.341 / 12.435 7 / P. CHILI / ITA / Klaffi Honda / 32'53.534 / 12.628 8 / C.WALKER / GBR / PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse / 32'57.562 / 16.656 9 / G.NANNELLI / ITA / Ducati SC Caracchi / 33'01.387 / 20.481 10 / N. ABE / JPN / Yamaha Motor France-Ipone / 33'02.025 / 21.119 11 / N.HAGA / JPN / Yamaha Motor Italia WSB / 33'04.075 / 23.169 12 / M.BORCIANI / ITA / DFXtreme Sterilgarda / 33'20.780 / 39.874 13 / G.BUSSEI / ITA / Kawasaki Bertocchi / 33'20.986 / 40.080 14 / M.SANCHINI / ITA / PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse / 33'22.390 / 41.484 15 / I. CLEMENTI / ITA / Kawasaki Bertocchi / 33'22.861 / 41.955 Fastest Lap 8° Yukio Kagayama 1'48.082 192,953 Km/

Superbike Race 2 : (Laps 17 = 98,481 Km) Pos /Rider /Nat. /Team / Time / 1 / C. VERMEULEN / AUS / Winston Ten Kate Honda / 30'49.758 / 2 / R. LACONI / FRA / Ducati Xerox / 30'50.340 / 0.582 3 / T. CORSER / AUS / Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra / 30'52.216 / 2.458 4 / K. MUGGERIDGE / AUS / Winston Ten Kate Honda / 30'53.137 / 3.379 5 / J. TOSELAND / GBR / Ducati Xerox / 30'59.659 / 9.901 6 / A. PITT / AUS / Yamaha Motor Italia WSB / 30'59.834 / 10.076 7 / P. CHILI / ITA / Klaffi Honda / 31'00.874 / 11.116 8 / C.WALKER / GBR / PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse / 31'01.345 / 11.587 9 / N.HAGA / JPN / Yamaha Motor Italia WSB / 31'16.694 / 26.936 10 / G.NANNELLI / ITA / Ducati SC Caracchi / 31'23.217 / 33.459 11 / G.BUSSEI / ITA / Kawasaki Bertocchi / 31'24.942 / 35.184 12 / N. ABE / JPN / Yamaha Motor France-Ipone / 31'25.370 / 35.612 13 / M.SANCHINI / ITA / PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse / 31'26.575 / 36.817 14 / L. CONFORTI / ITA / Guandalini / 31'35.231 / 45.473 15 / I. CLEMENTI / ITA / Kawasaki Bertocchi / 31'37.108 / 47.350 Fastest Lap 14° Chris Vermeulen 1'48.233 192,684 Km/h Riders Championship Standings: 1 CORSER 182, 2 KAGAYAMA 130, 3 VERMEULEN 115, 4 LACONI 87, 5 PITT 60, 6 TOSELAND 57, 7 WALKER 54, 8 ABE 54, 9 HAGA 52, 10 CHILI 44, 11 NEUKIRCHNER 41, 12 MUGGERIDGE 38, 13 BUSSEI 31, 14 GIMBERT 26, 15 BOSTROM 19.

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