by MadKaw » Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:24 pm
Another Season Best Raceday For Sykes
WSBK, Imola, Italy, 26 September 2010
Tom Sykes made good use of his pole position start at Imola today, taking his Kawasaki Racing Team Ninja ZX-10R to sixth place in race one and fourth in race two, his best combination of the year. Tom led race one for eight laps, and race two for four, as he battled for every millimetre of advantage up front. These results even best his fifth and seventh from last race weekend in Germany and Tom is now 14th in the championship, one place higher than he was at the start of raceday.
Allied to the Superpole win on Saturday Sykes and his team enjoyed their best weekend of racing on all fronts, and fourth in race one was a personal best for Tom on his Kawasaki.
For Tom’s Imola team-mate Ian Lowry this circuit was an even more difficult prospect to learn than the Nürburgring, which had hosted the previous round. Despite working hard in each race he just missed out on points in each 21-lap contest. He was 17th and 16th today.
After some of the pre-race sessions on Friday and Saturday had been plagued by frequently damp and very slippery track surfaces, raceday was dry, and the team found good settings for Sykes despite the lack of dry practice.
The championship title was also decided at Imola, and Max Biaggi is the 2010 WSBK Champion, the first Italian rider to have won this series outright.
Tom Sykes: “Fantastic results for us. We had had a bit of a dream weekend; pole position as well in qualifying, and starting from the best grid spot really helped us out in the races. I am always happy leading races. I have made no secret of that and I just love racing on empty tarmac. I had a taste of that today, led a few laps so I was certainly not out of my league. It was fantastic to get a sixth and a fourth for Kawasaki.”
Ian Lowry: “It is a hard place to learn here. I did my best lap time of the weekend in the race and I am improving all the time. I just lacked those two dry sessions yesterday so we were still making improvements to the bike even into the second race. I was disappointed in race two but I have to be realistic because I have never been to this track before.”
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Determination From Parkes And Fujiwara Earns Them Top Five Results
WSS, Imola, Italy, 26 September 2010
Broc Parkes was fourth and Katsuaki Fujiwara fifth at Imola, in a welcome dry race after the practice days had been adversely affected by rain. Parkes is now 14th overall, after only two races. For Parkes fourth was an unlikely final outcome at the end of lap one, when he was only 14th, having been almost last after being run wide in the first corner. He rallied strongly, despite his recent viral infection, and simply charged through the field to fifth, before a technical issue for another rider on the last lap put him fourth.
The last rider Broc overtook was his own team-mate, as Fujiwara scored fifth, finding some rear traction issues later in the race. Kats is now back into the overall top ten, capitalising on his strong front row performance in qualifying, and earning 11 points for fifth place.
Team regular Joan Lascorz, injured at Silverstone, is now guaranteed third place in the championship, as the only rider capable of overtaking his static points total of 168 retired on the last lap today.
Kawasaki Lorenzini by Leoni Ninja ZX-6R rider Fabien Foret got involved in a first chicane multiple rider incident, which put him out of the race before a lap had been completed.
Broc Parkes: “I got hit in the first corner, maybe because I didn’t get the best of starts, so that left me almost last. I had to run wide and then I was really a bit upset! So I pushed with everything all the way through the race and made some pretty big moves in the first few laps to come through. I could even have possibly had a podium at the end, but I have to be happy to have made the race I did from where I started.”
Katsuaki Fujiwara: “My bike was consistent, but it was difficult to find a good setting for the gearbox; last year was the same here. The beginning of the race was good but at the end it was too busy, too many gear changes and when the tyre grip drops off it makes it difficult to control. I was getting lots of little slides. Broc and I were inside the top five places, so not so bad for the whole team.”
Dave
2010 Z1000
ex bikes
05 ZX-10R Race Bike - No.77
95 ZXR750R M Race Bike - No. 75
98 ZX9R Race Bike - No. 000
zx6r, zx7r, GPX750, GPX500, lots of KX's.
I ride way too fast to worry about cholesterol