Fresh from their starring roles in the Suzuka 300km, winner
Yukio Kagayama and second placed rider
Ryuichi Kiyonari will be looking to translate that form back into the WSBK. Currently, Kiyonari is the better placed of the two after a pair of solid points finishes in the USA, although with a race winning bike underneath him, Kagayama will likely be up there if he can dial his Suzuki in.
Elsewhere, Gregorio Lavilla remains the best of the true privateers in 12th, despite a quiet weekend in the USA, one that saw
Lorenzo Lanzi and Jakub Smrz close up to him on their independent Ducatis. Other notable performances came from the Alto Evolution Honda team, with Shuhei Aoyama unlucky not to score after showing well in practice and qualifying
Meanwhile, the last of the five manufacturers, Kawasaki, endured another tough weekend in the US, but
Regis Laconi was at least pleased with another top ten finish after falling in the first race. After a significant improvement in qualifying however, they will look to challenge more consistently at the Nurburgring.
Previous Seasons
The seasons were 1998 and 1999, when both were dominated by Britain's Carl Fogarty on a Ducati.
Fogarty holds the qualifying record at the German track, 1 minute 38.842 seconds, while the lap record in the race belongs to his team-mate at the time,
Troy Corser, in 1 minute 39.328 seconds.
In 1998, when the track was wet, race 1 saw a 1-2 for the Castrol Honda team, with Aaron Slight finishing ahead of
Colin Edwards, while Pierfrancesco Chili took third on a Ducati. In the second race the Italian rider totally dominated proceedings and powered to the clear win, almost 12" ahead of Edwards and Corser.
The following year Carl Fogarty was again the protagonist of the weekend on the factory Ducati. In race 1 the British champion easily won from Aaron Slight and Troy Corser, while in the second race he surprisingly crashed, probably due to a lack of concentration.
