NEW WSB TERRITORY IN UTAH

2008-05-29 14:29
The sixth round of the 2008 Superbike World Championship takes place for the first time at Miller Motorsports Park, near Salt Lake City in Utah, USA this weekend - the first time the new, purpose-built facility has hosted a World Superbike and AMA Superbike Championship at the same time.

None of the current WSBK teams or riders have raced at Miller before, so it will be a new experience for everybody. As the AMA Superbike series uses a different course layout to World Superbikes, there are no lap times to compare, making it a unique occasion for the WSBK regulars.

Instead of the paint-scheme seen in the first five rounds of the championship so far, the Suzuki GSX-R1000 bikes of Fonsi Nieto, Yukio Kagayama and Max Neukirchner will feature an all-new, one-off design featuring Globasol.

Globasol is a company involved in the development and implementation of all kinds of renewable energy, such as photovoltaic energy, biomass and biofuel and recently presented a project for the construction on a plant in the Dominican Republic for the production of 60,000 tons of biodiesel per annum.

They are part of the Globalia group, which also includes Pepephone - the sponsor featured on the Suzuki Alstare bikes in the championship so far. The new livery at Miller will just be for USA only, but is Alstare's way of giving race fans something a little different.

Fonsi Nieto:

"We are all going somewhere we've never been before and have no knowledge about so I guess a lot will be down to who can learn the track quickly, get a good bike set-up, do a good Superpole and then two good races. It is the same situation for everybody and it's going to be a very different experience to racing in Europe for sure. I wanted to do a lot better at Monza than I did, so I am hoping that I get on with Miller and finish with two good results - podiums hopefully."

Yukio Kagayama:

"New track, new experience and I am happy because nobody will have any advantages over me. Normally, I learn tracks quite fast, so I am hoping that Miller will be the same. Of course, Suzuki USA is very strong and has much information on Miller, but this time they cannot help us because we are racing a different design track to the one they use! My season has been a bit up and down but I am going to Miller determined to challenge for the top places in both races."

Max Neukirchner:

"I am really looking forward to Miller because nobody will have any advantage over me and that is a bit of a rare experience. The layout we are using doesn't look so hard but I want to do some laps before I talk about how it could be. After my first ever race win, I am now eager for more. Before this season started, I felt that I could win a race and now that I have done it, I want a lot more."

Source: Team Suzuki Press Office

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