RIZLA SUZUKI PAYS TRIBUTE TO YUKI
26 February 2005 - Rizla-Suzuki

RIZLA SUZUKI has paid tribute to former team member Yukio Kagayama after the popular Japanese rider finished second and first in today''s opening races of the World Superbike Championship in Qatar to lead the series.

Yuki''s team mate Troy Corser from Australia won the first race, giving the all-new GSX-R1000K5 a dream start to the racing season with two wins out of two starts placing Yuki and Corser first and second in the Championship standings.

Yuki, who finished third in the British Superbike Championship in 2004 for Rizla Suzuki as he battled his way back from injury, is returning to England tomorrow to visit the Rizla Suzuki head quarters at the Crescent Performance Centre in Dorset.

Rizla Suzuki team owner Paul Denning said: ''I am so happy for Yuki - he''s done exactly what we knew he was capable of by winning the first round of the World Superbike Championship. I can''t wait until he comes to visit tomorrow - I''ve got the champagne ready and waiting.

''It is a real joy to see a former Rizla Suzuki racer do so well and bears testament to the strength of the British Superbike series that one of its ex-racers can win in WSB. It also proves that the all-new Suzuki GSX-R1000K5 has the performance to win and Rizla Suzuki will take heart from these results with just four weeks to go before the BSB season kicks off at Brands Hatch and we start our title defence.''

World Superbike Round 1 Results:

Race 1: 1: Troy Corser (Suzuki), 2: Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki), 3: Regis Laconi (Ducati)

Race 2: 1: Kagayama, 2: Laconi, 3: Corser

Championship standings after 1 round: 1: Kagayama 45, 2: Corser 41, 3: Laconi 36

www.rizla-suzuki.co.uk

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