JR ON THE FRONT ROW AFTER MEGA TIGHT QUALIFYING SESSION
17 July 2004 - Rizla-Suzuki

IN THE most fiercely contested qualifying session of the year so far, Rizla Suzuki ace John Reynolds secured third place on the grid for the ninth round of the British Superbike Championship at Mallory Park.

Championship leader JR was just a quarter of a second behind pole position and is delighted with his front row start after spending most of today concentrating on the race set-up of his GSX-R1000.

Rizla Suzuki rider Yukio Kagayama heads up the third row of the grid in ninth and is just over half a second away from the fastest lap time, a fantastic showing as this is his first visit to the venue.

The top 16 on the grid all finished within one second of pole man Scott Smart on a Kawasaki.

Superbike racing starts at 1:15pm on Sunday, July 18th. This is the last opportunity for fans to catch the racing as it enters a mid-summer mini-break for the following month before convening again at Croft on August 15th. All the action can be watched live on Sky Sports on the day or alternatively, the BBC will show a highlights package on Grandstand one week later.

John Reynolds:
''We worked hard on my Rizla Suzuki today and made some critical changes. Between sessions we changed the rear suspension spring and I now have a bike that will run fast lap times for full race distance and that is encouraging.

''Third place on the grid is a decent front row position and should allow me to get away with the leaders in the races. That is very important as this isn''t the easiest place in the world to overtake. It''s good to be back at Mallory Park after a year''s absence. I''m expecting a big contingent of fans from Nottingham and will be doing my best to deliver a couple of top results for them all!''

Yukio Kagayama:
''Mallory Park is very British circuit. I look at diagram on paper and think maybe this is okay and easy to get good result. I arrive here and find this is not so easy to learn and has many British features -tight hairpins and chicane and also big radius corner, all on very short lap. This makes learning difficult, but I am within small time from pole and this is not so bad.

''I need to put on British head to learn such a circuit. Tonight I eat more potatoes and increase my Britishness. Tomorrow I fight like bulldog to get up to front and podium places.''

Final Qualifying:
1: Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 51.283
2: Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +0.227
3: JOHN REYNOLDS (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.276
4: Michael Rutter (Honda) +0.298
5: Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) +0.386
6: James Haydon (Yamaha) +0.470
7: Dean Thomas (Ducati) +0.493
8: John McGuinness (Kawasaki) +0.512
9: YUKIO KAGAYAMA (RIZLA SUZUKI) +0.638
10: Dennis Hobbs (Suzuki) +0.692

www.rizla-suzuki.co.uk

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