Team Suzuki Press Office – October 3.
After strong performances at Donington Park and Assen, with a Netherlands victory and two pole positions the main rewards from the last four races, Tyco Suzuki will again be looking to improve this weekend during the penultimate British Superbike Championship round at Silverstone where both John Hopkins and Josh Waters will be gunning for podium action.
Hopkins, a former winner at Silverstone and second in this morning’s opening free practice session, said: “Silverstone is undoubtedly one of my favourite circuits of all time. It’s not only a circuit I really enjoy riding, but it’s also a circuit I’ve had a lot of success at in the past.
“It has everything you could want in a circuit from fast-flowing corners and chicanes, to tight first-gear hairpins and it also requires a lot of hard braking. With most of the corners being quite flat and not having a lot of camber, you need a lot of confidence in the front end of your bike as well as the front tyre.
“Silverstone is all about connecting the dots and hitting the right line because a lot of the turns lead into the next and one small mistake or being slightly off line could cost you dearly in terms of lap time. This morning we started well and joined those dots, but we must improve session-on-session and not be complacent.”
Waters, who was a race winner last time out at Assen, is also looking forward to this weekend’s challenge at Silverstone, with the Aussie still in with a mathematically chance of claiming top spot outside the Showdown.
After taking seventh spot this morning in free practice one, Waters said: “It was great to get the win at Assen, my second this season with Tyco Suzuki, but the goal is to push towards the podium action in the dry. We made a good start this morning, which was the plan and now I want to push forward from here and qualify well for Sunday’s opening race. I enjoy Silverstone and with John having a great morning, fingers crossed it can be a strong weekend for Tyco Suzuki all round.”
Philip Neill – Team Manager:
“It’s the same plan that we had at Assen: gloves off, get stuck in and fight for results and that means podiums. The boys have started well this morning, so it’s a matter of keeping that momentum going and making sure we don’t have any excuses come Sunday afternoon. We already know the Tyco Suzuki GSX-R package is strong enough to be right at the sharp-end at this circuit, so let’s see what the boys can do this weekend.”
British Superbike Championship, Silverstone, free practice one:
1 Ryuichi Kiyonari (BMW) 2m:06.628s
2 John Hopkins (Tyco Suzuki) +0.782s
3 Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) +0.806s
4 Dan Linfoot (Kawasaki) +0.910s
5 Josh Brookes (Yamaha) +1.340s
6 Peter Hickman (Honda) +1.860s
7 Josh Waters (Tyco Suzuki) +2.084s
8 Tommy Bridewell (Yamaha) +2.105s
9 James Westmoreland (BMW) +2.124s
10 Stuart Easton (Kawasaki) +2.210s
