German Round Pairs Sykes With New Boy Lowry
WSBK, Nürburgring, Germany, 31 August 2010
Tom Sykes will be teamed up with WSBK rookie Ian Lowry at the Nürburgring this weekend, as team regular Chris Vermeulen continues his recuperation period. After competing in a BSB round in early August and then making progress during a test at Almeria in Spain recently, the whole KRT team is ready to get back into regular WSBK race mode.
Nürburgring is the 11th round of the season, and with only two rounds left to run after this weekend every single point counts from now on. Sykes is 16th in the current overall rankings, but is only three points from the rider ahead. Tom has six points scoring races left to move up the overall standings.
For Lowry his forthcoming experience will be an all-new one in many ways, but he has ridden for the team in BSB at Brands Hatch in early August and has also tested the Ninja ZX-10R in Almeria.
Situated in the Eifel Mountains in the far west of Germany, the Nürburgring is a fabulously appointed track, but prone to sudden changes of weather. It is something of a classic of modern circuit design and a challenge to all-comers. The surface is bumpy in places along its 5.137km length and has one of the most dramatic high-speed braking sections in modern day racing, entering the first hairpin.
Tom Sykes: “I am looking forward to racing the Nürburgring again as there are some really exciting parts around the track, especially the right kink out the back of the circuit and the Schumacher S. That gives you a rewarding feeling when you get it right. If we can get solidly into the top ten in each race that would be really good given where we are at now. With the level of the championship this year those would be two good achievements. Last year was a bit wet and dry so there is obviously some English-style weather going on over there!”
Ian Lowry: “Nürburgring will be completely new for me but I have been playing the Superbike game on the PS3 a lot so I am a wizard at it now! Between that and doing some research of previous races I at least know what to expect in the early stages. I will do as many laps as I can on the scooter to get it into my head before first practice and the team has a lot of data from last year. We should not be too far away to start, and I can’t wait to get going.”
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Parkes Joins Fujiwara in Germany As Lascorz Is Ruled Out
WSS, Nürburgring, Germany, 1 September 2010
Katsuaki Fujiwara will have the experienced Broc Parkes as his team-mate in Germany after Joan Lascorz was ruled out of the running due to injuries suffered in a crash at the previous round. Katsuaki is now involved in a fight to take a strong top ten final championship position, and is looking to add to his career podium total of 21, including six wins.
Broc, like Katsuaki, is a serial podium finisher and winner in WSS, and in the 2009 season raced for the Kawasaki Racing Team in World Superbike. Broc has tested the Provec Motocard.com Ninja ZX-6R already and is all set to go this coming weekend. He has a career total of five WSS wins to his credit so far.
The luckless Lascorz is continuing his recovery after his big crash at Silverstone on August 1, while competing to try and regain the lead in the World Supersport Championship standings. His injuries came about when another rider’s machine unavoidably hit the fallen Joan in the back as he slid along the Silverstone track surface.
Currently Joan is still in hospital in Spain, having been under close observation until 11 August, with a drainage tube in his lung to relieve bleeding. Some degree of liver, spleen and stomach trauma was also suffered in the crash, although Joan did not need to undergo any operations on those vital organs. Lascorz also lost skin from his thumb in his fall but skin graft surgery to repair this particular problem went to plan and the thumb is healing well. Joan, who won the Spanish WSS round in April and led the World Supersport Championship at the mid-season point, also suffered five broken ribs and two injured scapula bones in his Silverstone crash, which cannot be operated on and are being left to recover naturally.
The 25-year-old rider from Spain is hoping to be released from hospital soon, but still faces a period of convalescence to allow complete healing to take place. He is currently third in the championship, with a 42-point lead over the fourth placed rider.
Kawasaki Lorenzini by Leoni Ninja ZX-6R rider Fabien Foret is currently 12th in the standings, and will be looking to get back into the kind of form that saw him score strong top fives in the early season races.
Katsuaki Fujiwara: “I’m really looking forward to the next round to get more chances to score good points and move forward. We are all keen to get going again and Silverstone seems a long time ago now. I like the German race even if last year I crashed when I hit a bump on the track surface. We need to find a good set-up on Friday and Saturday, because it can be very bumpy in places. But we tested in Spain last week and we will go to this race in good shape.”
Broc Parkes: “I rode the bike recently at Almeria and despite the really hot track temperatures we got a lot of good work done and I had a chance to get used to riding the Ninja ZX-6R. I’m really excited about this opportunity to have a team of that calibre give me a chance to ride at the front again. I had a pole and a podium in Germany in 2008, but it is hard to predict how things will be until I get back on the track with the rest of the Supersport guys. I have ridden for most of my career in Europe in Supersport and because of that I have competed against most of the guys who are still racing at the front.”