ALSTARE AIMS TO END ON HIGH NOTE The 12th and final round of this year’s Superbike World Championship takes place at Mangy-Cours in France this weekend and Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama are aiming to end the season with a flourish. This year has been a roller-coaster ride for the duo but both are in a positive frame of mind as they head to the last races of the year. Last weekend in Imola was good – until race day. Kagayama was hit from behind in the first race – unfortunately by Alstare Engineering Corona Extra rider Max Neukirchner – but bounced back to take a superb third place in race two. And Corser suffered another poor weekend, retiring in the first race with a technical problem and ending ninth in race two after severe tyre problems. Troy Corser: “This season started ok but recently I have been asking myself what’s been going on. It seems that every round has thrown up problems – and usually those problems have been on race day, not qualifying or practice. Most of my recent problems have been due to the tyres and I feel that they have not performed consistently. Last year, in Magny-Cours, a tyre problem in Superpole ruined my chances of a good result, but I was very happy to take fifth and a fourth after starting from the fourth row of the grid. Before last weekend, I really believed I had a chance of ending the season with third place, but now that idea has gone. My position in the Championship is irrelevant now so I might as well go all-out in Magny-Cours and try and shoot for the top as I’ve nothing to lose.” Yukio Kagayama: “If I had not have been taken out in the first race last weekend, there was a good chance of leaving Imola with two podiums instead of just the one. I know Max did not intend hitting my bike – it was a just a racing accident. Fortunately I was not injured in the fall. Imola was very hard work and the second race was a very big battle, but it is the kind of fight I enjoy. We had a good test at Magny-Cours recently and last year I took two podiums there so I am really looking forward to finishing the season with a couple more podiums and maybe even a win! 2005 results: Race 1: 1 Vermeulen (Aus-Honda), 2 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 3 Toseland (GB-Honda), 5 Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra). Race 2: 1 Lanzi (I-Ducati), 2 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 3 Noriyuki Haga (J-Yamaha), 4 Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra).