From a press release issued by FGSportgroup:

The Suzuka Squeeze

Suzuki GB Phase One and Suzuki Police Nationale Close In

The incident packed Suzuka 8 Hour race brought highs for Phase One and Police Nationale, lows for both Zongshen bikes, and has set up the Championship for an epic finish.

Suzuki GB Phase One’s fourth place at Suzuka earned them 20 points, and moved them to within 14 points of current championship leaders Suzuki Zongshen No.1. With 75 points still to be won there is very little to split these two. Suzuki Police Nationale 22 also benefited significantly from their fifth place at Suzuka, moving up to fourth in the championship just 13 points behind Zongshen 2. Only 13 points split third to fifth place and we can expect to see Police Nationale, Zongshen 2 and Yamaha GMT94 trying to make every point count at the next two meetings.

The Oschersleben 24 Hour race is doubly important for all of these teams because the points awarded at a twenty four hour race are double those given for a shorter race. Fifty points for first place, forty for second, thirty two for third and so on. Suzuki GB is the only team to have scored points at every race so far this year, while Zongshen 1 have won four of this year’s six races – the Oschersleben race will be crucial to the championship this year.

Both Zongshen No.1 and Suzuki GB Phase One fell several times during the 2002 Oschersleben race, but Zongshen managed to complete the distance while the British were forced to retire.

With five teams still in with a chance of taking this year’s title the pressure will really be on the top two to get a good result.

Championship standings after 6 rounds

1. Zongshen, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 116
2. Suzuki GB – Phase One, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 102
3. Zongshen 2, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 65
4. Police Nationale, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 59
5. Yamaha GMT94, Yamaha YZF-R1, 56
6. Yamaha Endurance Moto, Yamaha YZF-R1, 35
7. Bolliger Team, Kawasaki ZX-9R, 34
8. Yamaha Austria Rac. Team, Yamaha YZF-R1,34
9. Trackdaze, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 26
10. Team Sakurai Honda, Honda SP-W, 25