Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Max Biaggi and Yukio Kagayama go to the World Superbike ninth round at Brno in the Czech Republic this weekend confident of improvement and chasing podium places.

Kagayama scored a double victory at the track last year and recent performances indicate that he is ready to fight for the top honours again. He and the team have worked hard all season to improve the new K7 and now he is much happier about the bike and can look forward to pushing harder for the rest of the season.

For Biaggi, this year's Brno race will be another story: Although he has never raced a Superbike at the 5.403 kilometre track before, he has a lot of experience of it from his days in GP and MotoGP. He has also tested his Alstare Suzuki there recently so this will not be another weekend with another new track to learn.

Max Biaggi:
"Brno is a circuit I know from before and it is a track I like. It is a good track for riders and fans and I hope I can make some good results there. I tested at Brno not so long ago and I know that there are many things we have to do with the bike to get it right for this track - as usual. I always like to get a good set-up and feeling before I push hard and that's what we'll start working on the first day of practice."

Yukio Kagayama:
"If I can repeat my results from last year, I will be a very happy man! Last year was my first ever double in World Superbikes and it was a very special feeling. The start of my season this year has not been so good, but recently my team and I have found a good setting and now I feel much more comfortable riding the bike and I can push much harder. Now I understand the limit of the bike and that makes my job easier. I wish we had found this set-up earlier, but that is how racing goes sometimes. Now it is up to me and the team to improve this feeling and challenge for podium places in every race."

2006 results:
Race 1: 1 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 2 Toseland (GB-Honda), 3 Fabrizio (I-Honda). Max Biaggi - DNS.

Race 2: 1 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), 2 Fabrizio, 3 Haga (J-Yamaha). Max Biaggi - DNS.