Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi took provisional third and team mate Yukio Kagayama 10th in the opening day of qualifying for Sunday’s Brno World Superbike round in the Czech Republic.
The temperatures rose to the mid-thirties this afternoon, causing grip problems for all riders and the conditions were nothing like when the teams tested here less than four weeks ago.
Japanese rider Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) posted the day’s fastest lap with a time of 2:01.603, just one tenth-of-a-second ahead of his team mate Troy Corser.
Max Biaggi - 3rd:
“When we tested here recently the grip level was much better - because the temperatures were lower - but now that it is much hotter, the grip level has dropped drastically. So, at the moment we are looking to try and improve the grip and also see how the tyres will last. I think that whatever we do, after half race distance things are going to be quite interesting. Whatever set-up we decided to go with is probably going to have to be some kind of a compromise. We started the day with the set-up we found at the test and tomorrow we will try and improve it and get a better feeling for race day. What I have to do here is be strong from lap one right to the end. I like this track; it’s nice to ride and once you have a good set-up it’s one of the most enjoyable tracks in the world.”
Yukio Kagayama - 10th:
“Conditions today were not similar to when we tested here and I’m sure all the riders feel this way today! We began with the set-up from the test here three weeks or so ago but the feeling was so different, we had to make adjustments straightaway and that wasn’t so easy. This afternoon, I had problems with front and rear grip, so we have to work on improving the feeling and find a good set-up for the race. We have to find tyres that give good grip and will last a race distance and that is not going to be easy.
“For me today was not about trying to set a good lap time, but trying to find a set-up for race day because that is more important. Today was physically quite demanding because when the grip level is down, you have to concentrate so much harder otherwise it’s easy to crash! You have to consider every corner carefully and when you do that sometimes you forget to breathe and that was a bit of a problem for me this afternoon.”
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