17/05/09 - Kiyonari takes Kyalami points
 |
After his double podium last weekend at Monza in Italy, Ten Kate Honda Racing’s Ryuichi Kiyonari was frustrated to finish in 12th and 13th place in today’s two sixth round World Superbike championship races at Kyalami in South Africa.
The two races were won by series leader Noriyuki Haga, but, starting from 12th place on the grid, Kiyonari never settled into a comfortable rhythm on his Honda Genuine Accessories-backed CBR1000RR Fireblade.
The Japanese ace struggled to find a comfortable setting during the championship’s first visit to Kyalami in seven years, despite testing at the 4.24km circuit near Johannesburg with the rest of the Ten Kate team last December.
Ryuichi Kiyonari – 12th & 13th
It’s been a difficult day and a difficult weekend. We changed the tyre for race two but really we knew that this was not the problem. Kyalami is a very difficult circuit for me – very bumpy and it needs a completely different riding style to Monza last week. I guess I didn’t quite find the right style. We had a lot of problems so it’s difficult for me to know which one we should really concentrate on. I can only hope Miller will be better for me – it was not so good last year, but we will try hard again and hope for better things.
Ronald ten Kate – team manager
On the Hannspree side of the garage, we have had a good result with Jonathan Rea on the podium today and, of course, Kiyo-san was there himself last week in Monza. It’s strange that on some tracks he is flying and on others he seems to struggle. We’ll regroup before travelling to the USA and everyone will work as hard as they can to give him a bike that he is comfortable with there.
2009 World Superbike championship, round six – Kyalami, SouthAfrica
Results (4.24km – 24 laps) race one:
1 Noriyuki Haga (JPN) Ducati 39’45.027s
2 Michel Fabrizio (ITA) Ducati +0.322s
3 Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha +3.391s
4 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +8.914s
5 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia +9.019s
6 Carlos Checa (ESP) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +14.812s
12 Ryuichi Kiyonari (JPN) Ten Kate Honda Racing +34.216s
Race two:
1 Noriyuki Haga (JPN) Ducati 39’47.436s
2 Michel Fabrizio (ITA) Ducati +0.950s
3 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +8.936s
4 Leon Haslam (GBR) Honda +10.561s
5 Max Biaggi (ITA) Aprilia +10.767s
6 Carlos Checa (ESP) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +12.413s
13 Ryuichi Kiyonari (JPN) Ten Kate Honda Racing +24.564s
Championship points after six of 14 rounds:
Haga 250, Fabrizio 165, Spies 162, Haslam 116, Rea 106, Biaggi 103, Tom Sykes (GBR) Yamaha 103, Regis Laconi (FRA) Ducati 77, 9 Max Neukirchner (GER) Suzuki 75, Checa 73, Kiyonari 72.
Next round: Miller Motorsports Park, Salt Lake City, USA – 31 May