Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi will start from the front row of the grid in tomorrow’s World Superbike Championship round at Assen after claiming fourth place in today’s Superpole.
He had been 12th in regular qualifying but the changes he and the team made to the GSX-R1000 engine braking and balance of the bike made the bike more comfortable to ride and he was able to push much harder in Superpole.
His front row grid place means that he will not have to work his way through the field as he did in Valencia and he knows that a good start at the Dutch circuit is vital for tomorrow’s pair of 22-lap races.
His team mate Yukio Kagayama also struggled in normal qualifying, partly due to the fact that he is working on the development of a completely different ignition system. He just scraped in to the 16-rider Superpole shoot-out after final qualifying, but then the improvements made to the Magneti Marelli system allowed him to push much harder in the untimed afternoon session and Superpole.
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