Team Suzuki Alstare riders Fonsi Nieto, Yukio Kagayama and Max Neukirchner used the first day of practice and qualifying for the sixth round of the World Superbike Championship at the Miller Motorsports Park in Utah to learn their way round the track and get used to racing at high altitude.
The 4.907 kilometre circuit in America is about 1500 metres above sea level and all the bikes are suffering a drop in performance as a result.
At the end of the day, Nieto qualified sixth, Kagayama seventh and Neukirchner 15th.
Series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) is on provisional pole ahead of fellow countryman Troy Corser (Yamaha) with Carlos Checa (Honda) third and Jake Smrz (Ducati) fourth.
Fonsi Nieto - 6th, 1:49.895:
“I’m happy with today even though we had some problems with my favourite bike and that caused us to lose some time. I like this track - it’s not difficult to learn and it’s safe, but it is difficult to shave off that last fraction of a second when you are trying to go faster. I think the high altitude is affecting the bike, but it’s the same for everybody, so we just have to get down to it.”
Yukio Kagayama - 7th, 1:50.135:
“It’s a very big, wide track so it’s a bit difficult to find a good line at the moment. In the afternoon, I began to find it a bit easier and it’s just a case of putting in many, many laps and learning this circuit as fast as I can. I think the grip level is quite good and although the high altitude is affecting the bike, I have finished the day in a positive mood.”
Max Neukirchner -15th, 1:50.929:
“I’m a little angry because I’m finding this track difficult - especially in the first split where I know I’m losing time. The second and third splits are not too bad, it’s just the first one where I’m suffering and I think this is because of some chassis problems. We changed the bike from the morning session to the afternoon qualifying and I think maybe we went the wrong way, so tomorrow we’ll change it more back to where we started from and work from there. The altitude doesn’t seem to affect the top speed so much, but I feel it is affecting the acceleration out of the corners. We have some work to do tomorrow, but I’m sure my team will manage it OK.”
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