Kawasaki WSB / WSS - Brno

[MadKaw]

Impressive Third And Fourth Places For Ninja ZX-6R Riders
WSS, Brno, Czech Republic, 26 July 2009
After posting third and fourth place finishes in qualifying Joan Lascorz and Katsuaki Fujiwara repeated those results in a dramatic Supersport race that any of the four top riders could have won. Lascorz led the first lap, but Cal Crutchlow passed him and ran into a clear lead before retiring on lap 16. Lascorz, Fujiwara, Fabien Foret and Anthony West battled it out for the win, with Foret the eventual victory by passing West and Lascorz on the final corner, West was second and Lascorz third, only 0.289 seconds from victory. Fujiwara was just behind, 0.400 seconds from Foret after 18 laps in contention for a podium slot.

The increasing competitiveness of the machine was particularly evident this weekend, and after some small suspension tweaks to his machine in warm-up, Lascorz was particularly impressive as he set off in pursuit of Crutchlow, at a very high pace.

Fourth is Fujiwara's best result of the year so far, and finishing so close to the podium was both a positive outcome and a slightly frustrating end to a great weekend.

In the championship, Lascorz now has 122 points, and closed to within six points of third place rider Kenan Sofuoglu, who was only ninth today. Fujiwara jumped into the top ten, with 52 points, in a season that has included three unlucky no-scores.

The team now enters the five-weekend summer break full of confidence that their ever-improving machine can power them on to even greater things at the Nürburgring, on September 6.

Joan Lascorz: “It was good to take a podium at this race and third place is a good result, but we were only a small way from the win. We made some improvements in the bike again in the morning warm-up so I could do fast laps and feel comfortable in the race. The team is working well with the bike and we are improving it all the time.”

Katsuaki Fujiwara: “Very close to the podium today and it was a good team performance to finish third and fourth. But it would have been even better to have two Kawasakis on the podium! We have been making improvements all year and the bike is better every race. My set-up was good for exiting corners today but under braking and corner entry I could not hold as tight a line as Joan.”

----------------------

Ups And Downs For Superbike Pair
WSBK, Brno, Czech Republic, 26 July 2009
Makoto Tamada recorded a fine top ten finish in race one at Brno, but for both Makoto and his team-mate Broc Parkes, raceday was both kind and sometimes less than kind. In his comeback ride after injury, Tamada was running in the top seven for the majority of race one, but after his rear tyre lost traction near the end, he dropped back to a still-creditable top ten placing. Parkes was 12th in race one, recovering from a start position back on the fifth row. Tamada had qualified 11th.

Makoto went out of race two after tangling with another rider, almost saving the crash as he ran onto the trackside gravel. He re-broke his recently healed finger in his fall, meaning that the five week gap until the next race in Germany gives him some welcome time to recover.

Parkes paid a price for a slow start off the line in race two, but was encouraged that the changes he made to his machine after race one had a positive effect.

In the title chase Parkes is 18th on 31 points, Tamada 27th despite missing many rounds through injury.

Makoto Tamada: “I felt a lot more confident on the Ninja ZX-10R this weekend as the machine was working really well. We made some big improvements with the suspension and swing arm and we had good engine power. I was running in the top ten for the majority of sessions and was very happy to qualify on the third row and make it into Superpole. In race one I didn’t have such a great start but I was able to move up and battle for seventh before I ran out of rear grip and had to finish in tenth. Race two was a major disappointment as I was hit by another rider on lap three and broke my middle finger again from the previous injury and wasn’t able to finish the race.”

Broc Parkes: “It’s been an up-and-down weekend as the bike was working really well here on Friday but I had two crashes yesterday which set us back in our bike set-up and made us miss out on moving up the grid during Superpole. Starting that far back is always hard and I didn’t get a good start in race one, so to end up twelfth was a bit of luck due to a few crashes and drop-outs at the front. Race two I didn’t get a good start again which was a shame as we had much better lap times and rear grip which would have put us in the top ten had we qualified better. Overall I feel disappointed things didn’t work out as well as we’d hoped as we could have been a definite top ten here in Brno for both races.”