Rizla Suzuki racer Chris Walker will start from seventh on the second row and his team mate Cal Crutchlow from 9th on the third row in tomorrow’s second round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Thruxton in Hampshire. In a super-close qualifying session where the top 12 riders finished within a second of each other, Stalker was just over half a second away from Yamaha’s Tommy Hill who took pole position.
Cal will head up the third row and is in an optimistic mood as he thinks there is lot more to come when the race starts and he can follow the riders in front. He is particularly pleased with the performance of his Rizla Suzuki after his on-board telemetry recorded 201mph on the straight.
Superbike racing starts at 1300 on Sunday, April 15th, at Rizla Suzuki’s home 2.35-mile long Thruxton circuit in Hampshire. The action will be shown on ITV1 at 1440 and on Sky Sports Xtra at 1900 on the same day.
Stalker:“I am happy with our progress over the course of the weekend. Each session we have taken around four tenths of a second off our lap times and if I can achieve that tomorrow morning in warm-up then I’ll be pretty close in the races.
“We’ve done a good job in qualification and traditionally I have never practised or qualified well here. For the races I’ll be looking to get with the guys in front and see what I can achieve. With the fantastic warm sunny weather we should be in for a bumper crowd tomorrow and I’ll be counting on the support of the fans.”
Cal:“My Rizla Suzuki is working OK this weekend. The only area we are working on is stability over the high-speed bumps, but that is an issue that all bikes have around here. I just hope the weather is a little cooler tomorrow as it will make race tyre selection easier.
“Every lap I completed was on my own and I didn’t get a chance to follow any of the other riders. Following fast riders and sitting in the slipstream will settle my bike down and help reduce my lap times. It’s also encouraging that I have a bike that can top 200mph and is one of the fastest at the circuit – that’ll help me to overtake tomorrow.”
Simon Buckmaster, Team Manager:“At the moment both Chris and Cal are half a second off the front runners, but neither of them has followed any other riders and that is when the lap times tumble at Thruxton. In the races tomorrow they will both be stronger and have very fast GSX-R1000s to help them fight their way forward.
“The weather is absolutely glorious and I think it will encourage a record crowd. For Rizla Suzuki, high track temperatures mean more difficult tyre choices, but we have been working closely with Dunlop this weekend and have plenty of options, so we are confident we can put on a strong performance in the races.”
Qualifying Times:1: Tommy Hill (Yamaha) 1:14.433
2: Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) +0.055
3: Shane Byrne (Honda) +0.211
4: Jonathan Rea (Honda) +0.329
5: Tom Sykes (Honda) +0.363
6: Leon Camier (Honda) +0.505
7: Chris Walker (Rizla Suzuki) +0.539
8: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +0.664
9: Cal Crutchlow (Rizla Suzuki) +0.731
10: Leon Haslam (Ducati) +0.803
Related Linkswww.rizla-suzuki.co.uk
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