Positive practice for Rizla Suzuki racers JOHN REYNOLDS was fifth and James Haydon seventh fastest on their Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000s after today’s practice for the 11th round of the British Superbike Championship at Oulton Park. The morning’s 50-minute practice was held in wet conditions and the afternoon’s session started damp but ended dry, allowing both Rizla Suzuki racers to gain valuable set-up time on their bikes. JR ended the session eager to make more progress tomorrow. He said: “We started today with the same fork settings as the last round at Cadwell Park and my bike didn’t feel planted through the corners. We made a change to the fork springs and immediately I was much happier and able to run a fast lap time. “We feel we can improve the fork settings a little more and I’m sure we can cut the lap times tomorrow. I just hope the weather makes its mind up and is either full wet or dry.” James found a comfortable setting on his Rizla Suzuki at Cadwell Park two weekends ago and he used that as a starting point in practice. He made changes to the front and rear suspension to suit the flowing nature of the 2.69-mile circuit and was then able to record consistently fast laps that put him in the top four on the time sheets. With 10-minutes to go he tested his spare bike and was relegated to seventh by the chequered flag. Ducati’s Leon Haslam was fastest. “By the end of the Cadwell Park round I was delighted with the feedback from my bike and was able to push to the limits,” explained James. “The Cadwell settings did not translate exactly to Oulton Park so we’ve made a couple of minor changes to the suspension and ended the day with a good fast bike. “There are still improvements to be made on my Rizla Suzuki and if we can find a little more rear end feel tomorrow then it’s going to be a very interesting couple of races on Sunday.” Team Technical Consultant Dave Marton said: “The wet weather cut our testing time in half today by soaking the first session. The afternoon was dry though and we made some very rapid progress on both sides of the garage. “Both JR and James were quick on race tyres today and are in positive frames of mind, keen to get back on track and to keep improving. We are quick enough for the second row today and we will want to improve on that during qualification tomorrow.” Superbike racing starts at 1325hrs on Sunday, September 11th, at Oulton Park in Cheshire. All the action will be covered live on Sky Sports and will be followed by a highlights package on Channel 4 the following weekend. Practice Times: 1: Leon Haslam (Ducati) 1:37.344, 2: Karl Harris (Honda) +0.404, 3: Michael Rutter (Honda) +0.781, 4: Gary Mason (Honda) +0.875, 5: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.902, 6: Glen Richards (Kawasaki) +1.035, 7: JAMES HAYDON (RIZLA SUZUKI) +1.115, 8: Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +1.152, 9: Dean Thomas (Kawasaki) +1.342, 10: Steve Plater (Honda) +1.356.
Leon Haslam Tops British Superbike Practice At Oulton Park
Leon Haslam Tops British Superbike Practice At Oulton Park
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