Yukio Kagayama looks likely to miss the second round of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island aft🔯er suffering a suspected broken co🍷llarbone in Qatar.

The Alstare Suzuki rider took an eighth place finish in the openin💃g race of 𒁃the season at the Losail circuit and was hoping to build on that in race two with the GSX-R1000 having shown its speed in the hands of team-mate Max Neukirchner during the opening 18-lap encounter.

"In race one, I firstly suffered a problem with tyre chatter after seven laps and the grip level also went down," he said. "Later in the 🥂race, I had some vibration exiting the turns, so it was difficult to push very hard. I just kept going as fast as I could and tried to get the best result I could."

However, Kagayama was unable to find any extra speed in the second race as he fell following contact with Carlos Checa on the opening lap, being treated trackside bef🀅ore being taken to hospital with a suspected broken collarbone that is likely to rule him out of next weekend's event in Australia.

"On the opening lap of race two, Yukio and Carlos Checa collided, with Yukio crashing out," the team's post-race release read. "He was taken to the m𝄹edical centre for X-rays to determine if he had bro🎐ken his left collarbone.

"The X-rays were inconclusive, so he was taken to the hospital for further investigation a🍎nd treatment."