Tuesday, June 7 2011
After a couple of rounds in the doldrums, the Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team bounced back in round five of the World Superbike Championship which took place at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City in the United States.
Yorkshireman Tom Sykes moved from the third row to sixth place in race one on a day when great progress was made by his fellow Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R rider Joan Lascorz.
In race one Sykes continued his strong performance from the first dry qualifying session on Saturday, taking sixth position at the end of the 21 lap race, despite making a less than ideal start. Starting from tenth on the grid, he dropped back initially but was soon battling his way up the order and was rewarded with his best finish of the year so far.
Spaniard Lascorz rode well in race one from a starting position of 17th to claim points in 14th place, despite losing grip from mid-race distance onwards, he hung on to score two points for the Penrith-based Paul Bird Motorsport Team.
In the second race Sykes was unlucky to get boxed in after a much better start and had to battle hard to take tenth place and some more very welcome points. Lascorz was in much better shape in race two and finished 12th meaning Tom is now 13th in the championship with Joan in 15th going into the next round at Misano on June 12th.
Tom Sykes: “Sixth in race one was a positive result and a real improvement on last year’s efforts here. We were strong at the end of the race and set my best lap time three laps from the end. In the second race we did not make any real set-up changes and I had a lot better launch in race two but unfortunately I got boxed in on turn one. The whole race was faster than race one but I ended up in a bit of a dice with Jonathan Rea and that allowed Ayrton Badovini to catch and pass me. I am confident we can go away and make more progress and I really want to thank all the team and Kawasaki. We worked together even tighter as a team and that showed through the weekend.”
Joan Lascorz: “I think I just need to keep understanding the bike a bit better to make the most of its potential. The second race set-up was better. I used the same rear tyre in each race but different front tyres to make different settings and race two was much better. I think if I had had a better grid position and made good starts we could have been inside the middle of the top ten, maybe.”
Over in the Caribbean, team owner Paul Bird got his Rally Barbados campaign underway with a superb runner up placing in the Shell V Power King of the Hill competition whereby he and Scottish co driver Kirsty Riddick brought the Frank Bird Poultry-sponsored Ford Focus WRC home behind local aces Roger Skeete and Louis Venezia in their Subaru Impreza WRC S12. SOL Rally Barbados gets underway next weekend whereby Bird is looking for his first victory on the event.
Results – Race 1
1, C Checa (Althea Racing)
2, J Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)
3, S Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)
4, L Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)
5, E Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
6, T Sykes (Kawsaki Racing Team)
7, A Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team)
8, L Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
9, N Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia)
10, M Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
14, J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team)
Results – Race 2
1, C Checa (Althea Racing)
2, L Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)
3, M Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)
4, E Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
5, M Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare)
6, M Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
7, S Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)
8, J Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)
9, A Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team)
10, T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
12, J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team
Championship Standings (after round 5)
1, C Checa – 195pts
2, M Melandri – 134
3, M Biaggi – 133
4, E Laverty – 109
5, L Haslam – 95
6, J Rea – 94
7, L Camier – 91
8, M Fabrizio – 85
9, J Smrz – 83
10, S Guintoli – 54
13, T Sykes – 50
15, J Lascorz – 39
