Editor

The Kawasaki Racing Team duo of Tom Sykes and Joan Lascorz enjoyed four days of testing at Sepang this week, each moving forward in their preparations for the 2011 season - which starts in Australia on 27 February. Third factory team member Chris Vermeulen rode on the first day of the tests only, to get familiar with the new Ninja ZX-10R machine, before heading back to Australia and continuing his recuperation programme to strengthen his right knee joint.
Both Tom and Joan set best laps inside the 2'04 mark at the long and wide Malaysian circuit, with regular race pace proving to be in the 2'05s, times that the team were pleased with as rain interrupted each day of track action at some stage. All four scheduled days were used to get through their planned workload.


Sykes even found further improvements on the very last day, having already been lapping at a good pace throughout. "I felt really good at this test and overall I am quite pleased with how things went," said Tom. "We did well in the first couple of days and reached a high level, but even on the final day we made a big step and picked up more momentum. The step came from the geometry and chassis side, and we have such a good balance on the bike now for my riding style. This good direction should take us through to the start of the season. We did not have the chance to try and get a real fast lap but our pace was good and it was a really positive test. I'm looking forward to the Portimao sessions now, and we will have completed a lot of testing by the time the season starts."


Joan Lascorz is still not back to complete race fitness, but was very glad of the chance to try out the 2011 Ninja ZX-10R once again. "It was a very positive test for me," said Joan. "Even though I am not yet 100% recovered in terms of fitness on the racebike, I set good lap times, close to Tom's best. I just need to keep working hard to recover my full strength. I learned a lot more things about the Ninja ZX-10R over these days, all good things. I am also happy with the way we are working in the team. I look forward to Portimao now, and riding the bike at another circuit before we go to Australia for the final test and then the first race."


The team will now test in the official IMS outings at Portimao and Phillip Island.



Source: World Superbike

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