WSBK: Kiyonari Disappointed With Brno Woes
Kiyonari one second a lap slower than last year at Brno
Ten Kate Honda Racing’s Ryuichi Kiyonari took two 13th place finishes in today’s two tenth-round World Superbike championship races at Brno in the Czech Republic.
It capped a disappointing weekend for the Japanese ace, who began Friday’s practice session in positive style as he used new Ohlins suspension for the first time in competition this season.
However, the subsequent practice and qualifying sessions and today’s two 20-lap races at the 5.4km Brno circuit proved difficult for Kiyonari and he expressed his disappointment at his two results.
Ryuichi Kiyonari – 13th and 13th
What is really disappointing is that I am about one second per lap slower this year than I was on the same bike last year. It’s very frustrating and the biggest problem is that we don’t seem to know what the problem is. It’s like looking into a black hole and not being able to see anything. The feeling was a little better in race two but we achieved the same result – even if the lap times showed a small improvement. I will find it difficult to enjoy the holiday because all I want to do is get back on the bike and ride every day until we find a solution.
Ronald ten Kate – team-manager
Kiyo-san has endured a very tough weekend and basically had no feeling from his machine. Race two was better and he was only five seconds off a top six finish. We’ll tale that away from Brno as a positive, but Nurburgring is quite a different track to this one and we will need to work very hard when we get there.
2009 World Superbike championship, round ten – Brno, Czech republic (5.403km, 2 x 20 laps) results:
Race one:
1 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia 40’18.306s
2 Carlos Checa (ESP) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +3.631s
3 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +9.948
4 Shane Byrne (GBR) Ducati +12.952
5 Troy Corser (AUS) BMW +14.599
6 Jakub Smrz (CZE) Ducati +19.359
13 Ryuichi Kiyonari (JPN) Ten Kate Honda Racing +40.061
Race two:
1 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha 40’15.420s
2 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia +0.213s
3 Michel Fabrizio (ITA) Ducati +0.657
4 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +8.311
5 Carlos Checa (ESP) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +8.915
6 Noriyuki Haga (JPN) Ducati +21.175
13 Ryuichi Kiyonari (JPN) Ten Kate Honda Racing +26.246
Championship points after 10 of 14 rounds:
Haga 326, Spies 319, Fabrizio 273, Rea 206, Biaggi 200, Leon Haslam (GBR) Honda 180, Tom Sykes (GBR) Yamaha 150, Checa 145, Byrne 134, Smrz 132, Kiyonari 119.
Next round: Nurburgring, Germany – 6 September