Kawasaki Racing Team

Podiums For Sykes And Baz After Great Brno Weekend
WSBK, Brno, Czech Republic, 22 July 2012
KRT riders Tom Sykes and Loris Baz each scored podium finishes at Brno and in doing so moved up the championship table on a bumper day of success for most official Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R runners.
Podiums For Sykes And Baz After Great Brno Weekend
Sykes, starting from pole for the seventh time in nine rounds, was a front-runner in each 20-lap Superbike race, pushing on hard and -particularly in Race 2 - being able to fight back when under pressure in the final few laps, proving that there is still untapped potential being found in the race set-up of the Ninja ZX-10R.

In Race 1 the first laps were conducted on a damp track surface but as the sun appeared the track dried rapidly and Sykes was able to get to the lead and then keep second place when eventual double race winner Marco Melandri passed him. A collision between Sykes and Jonathan Rea with three laps to go saw Rea fall but Tom hold on to score second.

Right behind Sykes his teammate Loris Baz was having a brilliant ride to third place in not only his rookie season in this class, but also only his fifth competitive ride on the official Kawasaki Racing Team machine. He was only 1.948 seconds from the race win and his 2012 season podium total stands at

In Race 2 Tom was only 0.140 seconds from Melandri at the flag, fighting all the way to try and re-pass the experienced rider. His two second place finishes at Brno take him to third again in the championship, with his home round up next at Silverstone.

For Loris Race 2 was still a very positive event, finishing eighth for the third time this year but again close to the leaders on total race time. He is now 16th overall.

Kawasaki Team Pedercini Superbike riders David Salom and Leandro Mercado were both unlucky, with Salom only 18th in Race 1 and then a non-finisher in Race 2. Mercado fell after colliding with another rider under braking and he missed Race 2 as his bike was comprehensively damaged in the high-speed fall.

In the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup class Bryan Staring (Kawasaki Team Pedercini) won in soaking wet conditions, his second win in succession on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R machine. In third place, Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) was another rider having a bumper day for Kawasaki, adding to his podium score from the recent Aragon round. In the standings Staring is third, 24 points from the lead, with Guarnoni fifth, 32 points behind.

Tom Sykes: “We started very strong in Race 2 and the lap time was good, then the tire dropped a little bit in performance but the very small adjustment we made after Race 1 meant that the tire felt very consistent. I made my own race out in front alone and I think I am quite good at managing it and it seemed to work. We started to go a little bit faster towards the end but I felt a little bit of attack from Melandri. Finally the lap time got affected but it was great to battle with a rider like this. We know he is strong on the brakes but with help from Kawasaki and my crew chief Marcel I had a bit of an answer today. I was not quite as easily dealt with as in previous races. Hopefully we can carry this forward. Having the Ninja ZX-10 working so well at the end of the race is such a good breath of fresh air. It has proved a few people wrong. In Race 1 I felt the hit when Jonathan Rea and I collided. Jonathan went for a gap that unfortunately was not there. I tried to stay with Marco in Race 1 and when I attacked the corner the front was not allowing me to attack so I ran a bit wide to square the corner off and when I did I just saw a bit of Jonathan in my side view, at which point it was too late.”

Loris Baz: “I can’t believe I am here on the podium in Race 1. I could not dream of being on the podium when I started in Superbike just a few races ago. I started well and just tried to stay there with the other riders. We have been working very well in Kawasaki, all the mechanics and so on, and we never go in the wrong way. Because I am tall we had to make some changes to the geometry of the bike since I started riding it, but it really feels like I have been riding this bike for a year or more. I still think I am dreaming right now to be on the podium. In Race 2 I got a good start again but it took a bit of time to overtake two riders in front of me. I had a really good feeling with the bike again. I could not make a step to pass some other riders but I am really happy. It is out best race in the full dry conditions and we were only 13 seconds from the front so it was really close.”

Bryan Staring: Superstock 1000. “We have now won one race in the dry and one race in the wet on the Ninja ZX-10R so it makes me happy, the team happy and I’m sure Kawasaki too. It maybe looked like an easy race but it is difficult when you have to control the gap all the time. I saw the gap come down to La Marra behind me but I got the time back again. It all came together again on Sunday again. Considering two rounds ago I was in 11th overall and now I am third. Obviously that’s really good, but I do not want to think about it too much, I will just take it one race at a time. We had a lot of bad luck at the start of the season but it has been coming together better for us in the past few races. A huge thanks to my team and a big, big thanks to Kawasaki.”

Jeremy Guarnoni: Superstock 1000: “It was a very wet race and I was not happy because we did all the weekend in dry conditions and I was fast in those. In the race I made a good start and after a while I went third. I am really happy because it is another podium and I am closer to the lead in the championship.”