Kagayama on WSB front-row pace

John Reynolds and Yukio Kagayama completed the latest test of their new GSX-R1000s at Valencia over the weekend, with the two riders setting times that would have placed them on the front row of the grid at the first round of World Superbikes.

Kagayama set a fastest time of 1:35.65, which would have seen him in third place on the grid at WSB Round 1 just 0.79 seconds behind Neil Hodgson’s Superpole time of 1:34.86. Reynolds was not far behind with a time of 1:35.70 and both riders were running on race tyres.

Kagayama was happy with the results and said that they had managed to improve the bikes considerably.

” This was my first time at Valencia. I spent many laps testing the chassis and geometry on my bike. Now it is very good. I have a good position to start with when I approach a new circuit. We know how the bike reacts to changes, so hopefully that will help me to set my bike up quickly at British tracks, leaving me maximum time to learn the circuits, which are all new to me. If it had been a race I think I could have pushed a bit harder, but I was quick without taking any risks at all, it was easy. ”

Team manager Paul Denning added: ” The lap times and overall performance is incredibly encouraging considering neither rider had been to Valencia before, if we are not competing at the very front of the pack at Silverstone come March 30, we will all be extremely disappointed. ”

Honda UK rider, Steve Plater shared the track with the Rizla Suzuki riders and managed to iron out a number of problems that had dogged him at previous tests.

The main aim of his time at Valencia was to sort out the right tyre choice and suspension setup. Plater has previously struggled to make his Dunlops last anything close to race distance but came away from the tests happy with his setup after completing 86 laps.

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