Imola preview - Is Vermeulen Finished with Kawi.?

[MadKaw]

Still not fit.. - I wonder if there's not more to this.

Imola The Next Stop For Sykes and Lascorz
WSBK, Imola, Italy, 20 September 2011
The impossibly iconic Imola circuit hosts the 11th round of the WSBK championship this weekend, with Joan Lascorz and recent Nürburgring race winner Tom Sykes ready for action once more. Sykes and Lascorz will arrive with a positive recent testing experience at the nearby Misano circuit under their belts, while third team member Chris Vermeulen will miss the Imola race as he is still not quite at 100% fitness.

As well as enjoying the recent testing sessions, during which Sykes was second fastest on race tyres and fastest of all on qualifiers, Tom arrives in Imola with the momentum that he and his new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R have built up after the first win at the Nürburgring last time out. He can also look at some impressive front-running periods from last year’s race on the 2010 Kawasaki to add to his already high confidence level.

Sykes’ impressive German weekend takes him to 11th in the overall rankings, with Lascorz only a few points behind in 13th. Both riders have the final three rounds, and six remaining points scoring races, in which to lift themselves higher in the overall rankings.

Roberto Rolfo and Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki Pedercini Team) will be out for more forays into the top places at what is a home track for both Rolfo and his team. Currently Rolfo is 18th overall, and Aitchison 19th.

Tom Sykes: “We had a great weekend in Germany and we could not have wished for anything else, so massive thanks to all my crew and Kawasaki. To get that win under our belt was a fantastic feeling and we can build on that now. We went to Misano for a test last week and we were fastest in qualifying trim and joint second fastest on race tyres. So I am hoping that some of the information we had there would transfer to Imola for this weekend. Imola is very stop and start, narrow and not so much room for error. Hopefully we can be even stronger than last year and if that is the case we could well taste champagne again. We do not want to get carried away but we need to go there with our heads screwed on and build on the latest information we have from the Misano test.”

Joan Lascorz: “Our recent tests went well at Misano and we tried some new settings on the machine. They helped me in some areas of the chassis performance so I was happy with that. We will go to Imola to be more consistent in our set-up and get a good grid position in Superpole. Imola can be a very good track for us but we will have to work well to make sure we get away with the leading riders so we can go for the best finish possible in each race.”

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Imola Offers Salom And Parkes The Chance To Shine Once Again
WSS, Imola, Italy, 20 September 2011
Kawasaki Provec Motocard.com Ninja ZX-6R riding duo David Salom and Broc Parkes enjoyed a recent test at Misano and now hope to score strong results at the forthcoming Imola round. The classic Italian circuit starts a run of three season-ending races in quick succession – Imola, Magny-Cours and Portimao – with the undulating and frequently high-speed circuit in Italy providing a particular challenge to all riders and machines.

Imola is another new race on a Kawasaki WSS machine for Salom but despite only joining the Provec Motocard.com team in the winter he is currently second overall in the championship, having scored two podiums and two pole positions along the way. His consistency is unmatched in the class this year as he has been no lower than eighth in every single one of the nine races so far.

Parkes is particularly keen to get back into action as he left the two-day Misano test having found the feedback from his front end set-up that he wanted and is now ready to go for race wins in the last three rounds. Currently Broc has six career WSS wins and 27 podiums, all in 79 race starts. He is overall fourth in the rankings at present, only eight points behind his team-mate Salom.

Lorenzini by Leoni Kawasaki competitors Massimo Roccoli and Vittorio Iannuzzo have posted consistent results in some recent races, with Roccoli in particular moving on well after taking two top five finishes in succession. He is now ninth in the championship, Iannuzzo 15th.

David Salom: “We had a good test at Misano and our times were even faster than the race weekend. It was a positive period and we tried some new things with the suspension and the geometry. We had a new engine as well and it is a bit faster. Imola is a fast circuit and we will need all the speed we can get there. The track itself has a lot of up and downs and there are a lot of bumps but it is similar to the circuit we use for testing in Spain. I think it will be a good place for us and our bike.”

Broc Parkes: “I am really looking forward to the last three rounds because they should really count for us. I have to go to Imola with a positive attitude and the final placings will probably only come out at the very last round. The final races take place at tracks I really like and where the bike works well. Hopefully we can get back up there on the podium this weekend. We were trying out a lot of stuff back-to-back at the Misano tests and we just really tried to confirm a few things. I felt like I had my bike back and our lap times were really good. We bettered the times we did there during race weekend in the summer, which shows that we are making progress still.”

[fezzick]

I'm afraid Chris's best days are now well behind him. Such a shame as he is such a huge talent. If only he'd have stayed at Honda for one more year like they wanted hm to instead of going to Snoozooki.

[Six Addict]

bout bloody time they paid a rider who actually turned up to race weekends