World Superbike News

This weekend is the fourth round of the World Superbike Championship at Assen on the Dutch TT circuit.

Carlos Checa is currently in third place in the Championship points and is eager to show the pace of his bike at the fast circuit of Assen.

Checa said “I am looking forward to the race this weekend.  I like the track a lot and the atmosphere in Assen is always great.  If we can continue the progression we have shown in the last races I am confident we can achieve some good results.”

“I don’t know what the Ducati’s will do in Assen but I expect them to be riding up front.  Haga can be strong at Assen and Biaggi will have recovered fully.  I expect the Suzuki’s to be competitive again as well, so there will be many rivals around.”

“For the race in Assen we will mainly concentrate on further developing the chassis and clear the problems we experience with the rear-end  chattering.  There will be some pressure on the team to perform well on their home track, but if we continue the improvement we achieved in the last races we can fight for a win.  It will not be easy, but after the Valencia race I have plenty of confidence we can be there

Ryuichi Kiyonari said “For the team’s home race I would like to step on the podium after coming so close to it in Valencia.  I really have developed the taste for it and my confidence with the bike is growing every time out.  My lap times have continuously improved over the last races, but I still need to work on my stats and increase my corner speed.  I lose too much valuable time in the first laps of the race and then find it hard to close the gap with the frontrunner’s after the tyres have gone.”

“Assen is a complete new track to me, but with all the data information and the experience of the team I am confident I can quickly familiarise with the track.  If I can qualify well on Saturday and have a good start, I am confident I can compete for a place on the podium.”

The Yamaha riders, Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga are looking to score more points at the Assen race on Sunday after a podium place for Corser and a win for Haga at the previous round in Valencia.

The Yamaha Motor Italia team have arrived in Assen straight from testing in Monza, however, the weather conditions were not conducive with fast testing.

Haga said “At the previous race in Valencia we changed our machine setting on Saturday night and I got a lot better feel for the bike.  Even though I fell in race one we got our first win of the 2008 season right after, and that has given me real confidence to take to Assen.  We always try to win the races and Assen will be no exception.  Last year we were second in race one and then retired from race two so we would like to get two strong results this year.  Anyway, I like Assen and I will try my best to win the races.”

Corser said “It was a pity that we lost so much testing time at Monza because of the rain but Assen is a different kind of track from most anyway.  The circuit is not the same as it was in the past but I feel we can go there with confidence.  We are learning more all the time because it’s our second year with the bike.”

Team Alstare Suzuki had a dramatic and disappointing round at the Valencia race, but now all three riders, Fonsi Nieto, Yukio Kagayama and Max Neukirchner are fully focused on the coming round of racing at the Assen circuit.

Fonsi admitted to still preferring the ‘old circuit’ like most of the riders but feels he must deal with the circuit that is there now.  He is concentrating on learning how to handle the track on the Suzuki before pushing hard as he was on a different bike before and knows that he needs to improve his grid position to give himself more of a chance in the race.

Yukio is hoping for better results at Assen as he said he needs them.  He was not 100% fit for the Valencia race but is now in much better condition and hungry for the podium.

Max claims to have forgotten Valencia and is now focusing on the future races, which starts with Assen.  He said his injuries are getting better every day and is hoping to give his all at this race and wants to be on the podium so hopes that his collarbone will be up to the job.

The Assen track, despite being modified on many occasions is still one of the classic circuits on the Superbike calendar.  The track is still relatively narrow although sections have been widened over the years and to win on this track is still considered to be a special landmark with any rider during his career.