Suzuki pair pleased with progress
Added on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor
Neurkircher is tipped as a dark horse for 2009.
Both Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama were optimistic over their chances in the coming World Superbike Championship after a successful test at Phillip Island.
Sharing the Australian circuit with the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP team, the Alstare Suzuki pair started work on the new 2009 GSX-R1000 and, after three days and 420 laps, the pair were pleased with the progress being made.
Neurkircher, who was one of the surprise packages in 2009 as seven podiums, three of them wins, took the German to fifth in the championship and the 25-year-old was certainly upbeat on his first impressions with the 2009 Suzuki.
“I think that this bike handles better than my bike of last year and its chassis feels good” said Neukirchner. “We did a lot of work, starting with the chassis, suspension, different swing-arms and links and generally I tried to get to know the bike and how it works.
“Each day, I got more confident in the bike and more comfortable. I am sure I would’ve gone faster at the end, were it not for a swing-arm that was a bit too long. But, I’m happy generally and looking forward to the next time on the bike and improving it for the start of the season.”
Teammate Yukio Kagayama was also pleased with what the team achieved during the three day test.
“As the bike is new, there is much work to do - as you can imagine” he declared. “I managed to do a short shakedown test in Japan before the bikes were sent to Phillip Island, so these tests were my second time on the bike. My first impression of the new bike is that it handles better than last year’s bike, but we shall have to see if that is still the case once we develop it further. Of course, we tested many things these past three days and have done a lot of work with the chassis, suspension and different links.
“All in all, I am happy because the tests went well, I had no crash and was faster than before here. Now we need to work on the rest of the bike and the electronics and be ready for the start of next season.”
