Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:06 pm
Laconi Charges To A Point In A Wet Race Two
Donington Park, Great Britain, 7 September 2008
After a disturbed period of qualifying at Donington, raceday was equally unpredictable for the PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse riders Régis Laconi and Makoto Tamada. Each rider had qualified down the order from where they had hoped to in wet conditions, but in the first race, held in dry conditions, Laconi ran off circuit and crashed, breaking his gear linkage. Tamada also fell, on a slippery patch of tarmac, and his machine was extensively damaged as it tumbled to a stop. He was not allowed to restart when the red flags came out, and an aggregate race was declared.
In race two, a sudden shower of rain just before the start forced the riders back onto a wet set-up, with Laconi scoring a point for 15th, with Tamada one place behind in 16th.
In the championship, Tamada is 17th, Laconi 18th.
Régis Laconi: “To start 26th in the wet in race two was really difficult and I spun the rear tyre off the startline. After that I tried to take it easy because the bike was not so good in the wet earlier in the weekend. But we had made some changes to the settings, quite small adjustments, but they were effective today. I finished 15th and that was after running off the track as well. The rain was so heavy at one time I did not see the white lines! I came back but I am happy to fight to the finish and know that I did my best. We have made a step with the set-up and that is good for us all.”
Makoto Tamada: “I really wanted to restart together with the other riders after the first red flag in race one, but the bike was seriously damaged in the crash and the regulations don’t permit me to use the second bike. In race two I know I could maybe have done better but I didn’t want to risk another crash. I just tried to finish the race and got 16th.”
--------------------
Kawasaki Supersport Riders In The Points
Donington Park, Great Britain, 7 September 2008
On a dry set-up in a dry race Katsuaki Fujiwara and his latest team-mate Chris Martin each scored points, making Donington a successful event in the end up for each Ninja ZX-6R rider. With wet sessions appearing throughout the weekend to that point, even in morning warm-up, the team had to estimate when choosing their dry settings. Despite this each rider was able to fight hard in the early laps, even with an imperfect set-up.
Each rider in green was in the peculiar position of starting the race hoping it would be wet, as they had both shown good mastery of such conditions.
Martin had been as high as eighth in the race, before being forced back by increasing chatter.
Katsuaki Fujiwara: “We got some points, so we are happy in a way. We didn’t have the chance to try any dry settings, so that made it hard for us, but we made some progress. We had chatter in the dry, especially in the high-speed corners, and that held us back a bit. But we always try our best and never stop fighting for points.”
Chris Martin: “We went into the race with no dry settings but the team did a good job. We had a few little problems with chatter but we got home and we got points, which was the aim. It was just a shame that we couldn’t stay further up but as the chatter carried on I couldn’t stay in the top ten. I think the team and I are both happy, considering we had no chance to test in the dry.”