Kawi WSBK / WSS - Nurburgring - Parkes in.

[MadKaw]

German Round Pairs Sykes With New Boy Lowry
WSBK, Nürburgring, Germany, 31 August 2010
Tom Sykes will be teamed up with WSBK rookie Ian Lowry at the Nürburgring this weekend, as team regular Chris Vermeulen continues his recuperation period. After competing in a BSB round in early August and then making progress during a test at Almeria in Spain recently, the whole KRT team is ready to get back into regular WSBK race mode.

Nürburgring is the 11th round of the season, and with only two rounds left to run after this weekend every single point counts from now on. Sykes is 16th in the current overall rankings, but is only three points from the rider ahead. Tom has six points scoring races left to move up the overall standings.

For Lowry his forthcoming experience will be an all-new one in many ways, but he has ridden for the team in BSB at Brands Hatch in early August and has also tested the Ninja ZX-10R in Almeria.

Situated in the Eifel Mountains in the far west of Germany, the Nürburgring is a fabulously appointed track, but prone to sudden changes of weather. It is something of a classic of modern circuit design and a challenge to all-comers. The surface is bumpy in places along its 5.137km length and has one of the most dramatic high-speed braking sections in modern day racing, entering the first hairpin.

Tom Sykes: “I am looking forward to racing the Nürburgring again as there are some really exciting parts around the track, especially the right kink out the back of the circuit and the Schumacher S. That gives you a rewarding feeling when you get it right. If we can get solidly into the top ten in each race that would be really good given where we are at now. With the level of the championship this year those would be two good achievements. Last year was a bit wet and dry so there is obviously some English-style weather going on over there!”

Ian Lowry: “Nürburgring will be completely new for me but I have been playing the Superbike game on the PS3 a lot so I am a wizard at it now! Between that and doing some research of previous races I at least know what to expect in the early stages. I will do as many laps as I can on the scooter to get it into my head before first practice and the team has a lot of data from last year. We should not be too far away to start, and I can’t wait to get going.”

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Parkes Joins Fujiwara in Germany As Lascorz Is Ruled Out
WSS, Nürburgring, Germany, 1 September 2010
Katsuaki Fujiwara will have the experienced Broc Parkes as his team-mate in Germany after Joan Lascorz was ruled out of the running due to injuries suffered in a crash at the previous round. Katsuaki is now involved in a fight to take a strong top ten final championship position, and is looking to add to his career podium total of 21, including six wins.

Broc, like Katsuaki, is a serial podium finisher and winner in WSS, and in the 2009 season raced for the Kawasaki Racing Team in World Superbike. Broc has tested the Provec Motocard.com Ninja ZX-6R already and is all set to go this coming weekend. He has a career total of five WSS wins to his credit so far.

The luckless Lascorz is continuing his recovery after his big crash at Silverstone on August 1, while competing to try and regain the lead in the World Supersport Championship standings. His injuries came about when another rider’s machine unavoidably hit the fallen Joan in the back as he slid along the Silverstone track surface.

Currently Joan is still in hospital in Spain, having been under close observation until 11 August, with a drainage tube in his lung to relieve bleeding. Some degree of liver, spleen and stomach trauma was also suffered in the crash, although Joan did not need to undergo any operations on those vital organs. Lascorz also lost skin from his thumb in his fall but skin graft surgery to repair this particular problem went to plan and the thumb is healing well. Joan, who won the Spanish WSS round in April and led the World Supersport Championship at the mid-season point, also suffered five broken ribs and two injured scapula bones in his Silverstone crash, which cannot be operated on and are being left to recover naturally.

The 25-year-old rider from Spain is hoping to be released from hospital soon, but still faces a period of convalescence to allow complete healing to take place. He is currently third in the championship, with a 42-point lead over the fourth placed rider.

Kawasaki Lorenzini by Leoni Ninja ZX-6R rider Fabien Foret is currently 12th in the standings, and will be looking to get back into the kind of form that saw him score strong top fives in the early season races.

Katsuaki Fujiwara: “I’m really looking forward to the next round to get more chances to score good points and move forward. We are all keen to get going again and Silverstone seems a long time ago now. I like the German race even if last year I crashed when I hit a bump on the track surface. We need to find a good set-up on Friday and Saturday, because it can be very bumpy in places. But we tested in Spain last week and we will go to this race in good shape.”

Broc Parkes: “I rode the bike recently at Almeria and despite the really hot track temperatures we got a lot of good work done and I had a chance to get used to riding the Ninja ZX-6R. I’m really excited about this opportunity to have a team of that calibre give me a chance to ride at the front again. I had a pole and a podium in Germany in 2008, but it is hard to predict how things will be until I get back on the track with the rest of the Supersport guys. I have ridden for most of my career in Europe in Supersport and because of that I have competed against most of the guys who are still racing at the front.”

[MadKaw]

Broc On The Podium After Results Are Revised
WSS, Nürburgring, Germany, 5 September 2010
Broc Parkes and Katsuaki Fujiwara each ran up front in the WSS Race in Germany with Broc eventually awarded a podium place after another leading rider was disqualified. Fourth was already a great result for any rider returning to World Supersport for the first time in a year and a half, but an eventual third was a reward Parkes and his crew could only have dreamed of as he arrived in Germany.

Broc and the team created the reality of a podium after a strong qualifying session, with Broc third on the grid, and Provec Motocard.com team regular Katsuaki Fujiwara started the race alongside him, in fourth grid spot.

‘Kats’ was in great early form but a drop off in rear traction eventually contributed to a crash. The tough Japanese rider got himself back on track again, rejoining the race.

Fabien Foret, from the Kawasaki Lorenzini by Leoni team, was a strong fourth overall, having mixed it on track with both Broc and Kats for some time.

Broc Parkes: “I was pretty happy with fourth, so to then get third was great for the team and myself in my first ride. The first part of my race wasn’t real good. I tried to go with the top two guys and had a couple of moments on the first and second lap. I didn’t quite have the pace and got passed by a couple of guys, until I got into a bit of a rhythm. I just lacked a little bit of confidence with the front and in the early laps I did not want to throw it down the road. I tried to learn a little bit from the other guys, and I think we are all happy with the result.”

Katsuaki Fujiwara: “I started to have less side grip from the bike, like I had a slow loss of tyre pressure or something. The rear started to spin a lot. I fell on the entry to the third corner, when I lost the front. I was just trying to stay in contention. It is a shame because we were looking good for a top five finish.”

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Fifth And Seventh A Season High For Sykes
WSBK, Nürburgring, Germany, 5 September 2010
The best weekend so far Kawasaki Racing Team rider Tom Sykes gave him a fifth and a seventh place finish on his Ninja ZX-10R, while rookie Ian Lowry added to the positives by going 12th in race one Tom made great use of his seventh place grid position, making strong starts in each race and riding at a consistently high pace throughout. His two strong finishes lifted him to 15th in the overall rankings, with a total of 70 points. Tom equalled his best individual race finish of fifth today, but this was arguably an even more impressive finish than his top five in Monza in May.

Lowry had a great race one for a rookie rider, and finished with four points. He fell in race two but only after a set-up change intended to make his lap times even more competitive.

Great weather conditions assisted all the riders at this modern classic circuit in the Eifel Mountains of Germany, delivering a level playing field for all comers in practice and on raceday.

Tom is now only six points from 14th place, and 15 points from 13th overall, giving him a new target to aim for in the two remaining races of the year.

Tom Sykes: “We’ve had quite a strong performance here at the Nürburgring this weekend, from both the Team and myself, and I’m very happy with how it’s all gone. I just wished we could have hang in there a bit more in race two but overall I can’t complain, as it’s our best results for the year. We came here with a good base package and worked well with what we knew was our setting goal so this meant we didn’t need to make big changes, just a few adjustments which are ultimately much easier on a rider. I was able to just focus on fine-tuning the bike and the best tyre combinations to get my ultimate setting. Overall it’s been a massive effort from the team and Kawasaki and although I’d like to thank every individual, I have to give additional thanks to Johnny my crew chief, and Javier from Showa for giving me the best package this weekend, on which I was able to show well in the races and come away with some strong results for Kawasaki.”


Ian Lowry: “I was really excited to have been asked to ride this weekend for the official Kawasaki Racing Team and although I obviously haven’t ridden around the Nürburgring before, or spent much time on the bike, I felt that I started the weekend in pretty good shape. I was really pleased to have finished 12th in race one and get some points for the team but I’m just a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to improve my time and performance in race two, having had a slide off after we took the wrong settings direction. Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed my first outing at the World Superbikes with the Kawasaki Racing Team and I hope that I get another opportunity to race with them again.”

[mfzx6r]

so what did Gino do to be disqualified ?