Rizla Suzuki looking for bike balance at Donington Park RIZLA SUZUKI’S John Reynolds and James Haydon spent today’s practice sessions for the 12th round of the British Superbike Championship at Donington Park working to perfect the chassis balance on their GSX-R1000 race bikes. A treacherously wet morning session was followed in the afternoon by damp but drying conditions at the 2.5-mile long circuit, allowing the riders to push their GSX-R1000s to the limit right at the end of the day. Both Rizla Suzuki racers worked on fork settings in a bid to increase their confidence through the circuit’s long series of flowing turns. JR was 7th and James 12th on the timesheets. Honda’s Ryuichi Kiyonari was quickest. Superbike racing starts at 1315hrs on Sunday, September 25th, at Donington Park in Leicestershire. All the action will be shown at 1700hrs on Sky Sports while a highlights programme will be broadcast on Channel 4 one week later. JR: “I am pushing the front tyre through the corners and it isn’t giving me the confidence I need to commit fully. As we go through the corners, the front feels as though it is chattering and not following the road properly it doesn’t feel in balance with the rear of the GSX-R1000. We reduced preload by one-millimetre and the difference was like night and day. We’ll be making further improvements tomorrow.” James: “When I’m off the brakes running through the corners the bike does not want to hit the apex. It feels as though the forks are riding high and this is upsetting the balance of the bike. We added some preload and that was a good test as it told us that it was not the right direction to go. The Rizla Suzuki isn’t far away but Donington Park is one of those circuits that really shows up any small problems and we’ll be looking to sort those tomorrow.” Dave Marton, Technical Consultant: “The wet weather reduced our time on track and when we did start going fast we found that both riders are lacking a little bit of balance with their Rizla Suzukis. We didn’t have a great deal of time to make adjustments but we have a good plan on how to improve that by working on fork settings. Both riders are upbeat and confident and they know there is a lot more to come once we get the bikes dialled in.” Practice Times: 1: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 1:34.166, 2: Michael Rutter (Honda) +0.032, 3: Karl Harris (Honda) +0.083, 4: Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) +0.302, 5: Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +0.463, 6: Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +0.572, 7: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.818, 8: Scott Smart (Kawasaki) +0.823, 9: Steve Plater (Honda) +0.956, 10: Leon Haslam (Ducati) +1.110, 12: JAMES HAYDON (RIZLA SUZUKI) +1.679.