World Superbike - Monza

[MadKaw]

Sykes Teams Up With Gadea for Monza Weekend
WSBK, Monza, Italy, 3 May 2012
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) enters the Monza race weekend looking for more podium success and at this round he will have a new team-mate in Spaniard Sergio Gadea. This weekend Sergio, a multiple 125cc Grand Prix winner and a podium finisher in that class as recently as 2011, is replacing injured rider Joan Lascorz who continues his recuperation in hospital in Spain.

Sykes is a big fan of Monza, a circuit with many high-speed sections and a few areas of heavy braking into tight and then ever faster chicanes, culminating in the blast through the Variante Ascari towards the unique Parabolica final turn. Sykes and his team feel that Monza should be a great venue for man and machine, as Tom goes for his first win of 2012, and his second career win for Kawasaki.

Tom has won Superpole at all three races of the 2012 season so far and at Monza a good starting place is particularly beneficial as the entire pack has to negotiate the first few chicanes at high speed and in close proximity.

For Sergio racing a Superbike in this category will be a new experience. He has never raced at Monza before but it is may be fortunate that although Monza is unique in its high-speed nature, the layout of the track is relatively simple.

Pedercini Team riders David Salom and Leandro Mercado will be fighting it out at Monza again on their Ninja ZX-10R race bikes, all ready to push on to more points scores to get into double figures and march up the table as the season progresses.

In the other main classes Pedercini Team Kawasaki Superstock 1000 FIM Cup riders Bryan Staring and Jeremy Guarnoni will be out once again, while Loris Baz rides his MRS Ninja ZX-10R, having made a great impact since his arrival back into this class.

For all competitors the potential for poor weather, according to the latest forecasts at least, may be the only thing to spoil what is one of the most enjoyable weekends of the year.

Tom Sykes: “We have had a fantastic start to the year but I think we also had some bad luck at Assen last time out. Hopefully that is our bad luck for a while now. The good thing from my point of view is that I did not make a mistake, when we were forced to retire we were in the lead of the race and we were competitive again before that. Now I am looking forward to Monza. We have some good circuits coming up and for us Monza we should be OK. We have a good base setting so we need to work around that and not stray too far away from where we need to be. We can still improve the bike in a couple of areas and I am sure we can get there, so we can push on that extra little bit where we need to. The Kawasaki is also strong in the engine performance and I am going to Monza looking to bring back two top finishing places.”

Sergio Gadea: “This is a great challenge for me and I am very happy about it. I want to thank Kawasaki for the confidence they have had in me this weekend. I have never seen Monza before - only on the Playstation - and I was up until 1:30am this morning playing it. I have also done many laps on the scooter just to be sure of the circuit layout for the first practice session on Friday.”

Tati Mercado: “I hope to make a step up this weekend because we were able to figure out some things after the Assen race. Getting out of the corners to generate maximum speed down the straights is the most important thing at Monza and that’s what we will focus on. I'm really pleased with the way things are progressing with the package and the team and as it's their home race it also adds something extra to the weekend."

David Salom: “Monza is a good track for me because our Kawasaki has good speed and it should work well there. I need to score some points at this race. My form is good and my motivation is still high and I intend to just try as hard as I can to reach a good result. I like Monza, also because there are many Pedercini team supporters because it is our team's home race. We've been working hard as a team to continuously improve the bike and I'm confident ahead of the Monza races.”

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Kawasaki Riders Going For More Gold At Classic Monza Circuit
WSS, Monza, Italy, 3 May 2012
Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini competitors Kenan Sofuoglu and Sheridan Morais will soon be able to give the engines on their Ninja ZX-6R machines free rein at the fastest circuit on the calendar, Monza. The classic Italian circuit, build inside the grounds of a former Royal Park, has been around in one form or another since the 1920s. Even with several chicanes Monza is still a unique venue in terms of top speed and the need to slipstream, with engines held at full revs for a long time down the fast start-finish straight.

It is a track that both Sofuoglu and Morais relish racing at given the strong top end on their Ninja ZX-6Rs, but their entire race packages are already at a high level now and improving every time they take to the track.

At the top of the table Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step Racing) shares 45 points with Sofuoglu as the Kawasaki teams in general have made a great start to the season against some tough opponents. Morais is currently 12th in the rankings, Foret’s team-mate Romain Lanusse 16th.

Kenan Sofuoglu: “I feel more confident and have a better feeling since Assen. I made a mistake at Imola and lost a lot of points, so I was under a lot of pressure not to make a mistake in the Assen race. I was really careful there in the slippery wet conditions and I got 20 points, which brought me to the top of the championship again. I am adapting more to my bike at every race. Monza is a good track for me, not like a special one, but it is a good track. I believe also Kawasaki has a very, very fast engine and that can be a help to me. Hopefully we can bring a good result this weekend and hopefully finish in the podium. Of course I want to win but for the championship it is important to finish on the podium.”

Sheridan Morais: “Since Assen we have been working towards Monza and because I live so close to the workshops now I am there every day with the guys. We have been going through last year’s set-up and we have changed a few things with the gearbox already, so we should be starting out from a good point at Monza. We have checked the telemetry and the engine maps from last year so it feels like I have already done 100 laps around there, so I am ready to go there now. I love the circuit and there are some really difficult sections and fast turns. Our bike is really good engine-wise and suspension-wise, so I think it can be a great weekend for us.”

[MadKaw]

Sykes Takes A Spectacular First Win Of The Season
WSBK, Monza, Italy, 6 May 2012
There was no stopping Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) at Monza as he scored a clear win in the only SBK race to be completed today, thanks to weather conditions that constantly changed. With the first race cancelled, the second race was delayed to let the track dry in some sections but at the green light Sykes set an unmatchable pace and soon put half the length of the straight between his Ninja ZX-10R and his pursuers. By the time the rains came back and the red flag came out to stop the race Tom had amassed a 9.709 second lead over a six rider group behind him.

Tom’s victory goes down in history as a full and well-deserved one, but because of the shortened race distance only half points were awarded to all the riders who scored today.

Sykes and his team had opted for a slick tyre set-up on the drying track, soft on front and rear, and the choice worked perfectly. This was Sykes’ second victory for Kawasaki in SBK racing, and his first in the 2012 season. The final result of his Monza win is that he closed up on the championship leaders, and is now only six points behind Max Biaggi, and four behind Carlos Checa.

New rider for Monza, Sergio Gadea (Kawasaki Racing Team), fell in the attempted first race after the rains started and his bike was damaged enough to not make it to the second race.

Team Pedercini Kawasaki rider David Salom suffered what was at first thought to be a broken left collarbone when he crashed in the first running of the cancelled race one, but it was later diagnosed as a dislocated left shoulder. His team-mate Tati Mercado scored 16th place in the race and just missed out on a points score by a tenth of a second.

Kawasaki secured a podium in the first race of the day, the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, thanks to Christoffer Bergman (BWG Racing Kawasaki), who finished second. Team Pedercini Kawasaki Superstock 1000 FIM Cup rider Bryan Staring did not make the race after suffering little finger injuries on Saturday, but Jeremy Guarnoni, his team-mate, scored a strong ninth. Loris Baz fell from his MRS Kawasaki and no-scored.

Tom Sykes: “My second win for Kawasaki but my first this year and it was nice to get that one under the belt. It is a shame that it is only half points but we put on a good show in eight laps and I hope I put on a good show for the Italian fans. This was my first podium at Monza so that is good and the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R has been working fantastically well. Conditions have often been very bad so there has been a lot of talk and other things going on but it has been my job to keep focused. From the green light the feedback on my bike was fantastic and I was able to go about my business in a good way and keep out of trouble. I had a great start and got myself into the lead and as Elvis once said, “It’s now or never." We went for it and every lap the bike was getting better, the track conditions better and I was confident with our package today that we could do a good race distance.”

Sergio Gadea: “My first time on a 1000cc bike and I was very happy with the team, the bike and all things. The bike is very powerful. I enjoyed racing in this championship. I fell in the first race on lap three when it started to rain and we could not get out again for race two.”
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Sofuoglu Ten Points Clear After Podium At Monza
WSS, Monza, Italy, 6 May 2012
Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini) survived an early scare and a treacherous track surface to take third place at Monza, and in doing so put himself into a clear championship lead. Sofuoglu fell on the wet warm-up lap and had to compose himself before the 16-lap race got underway. Despite having less than perfect preparation for full wet conditions he rode with confidence, despite slipping back at the halfway point, but he hunted down Imre Toth to secure his podium and 16 very welcome points.

He is now ten points ahead of Sam Lowes, who was second today behind race winner Jules Cluzel, with 61 points to the English rider’s 51. Former joint leader Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step) was only 12th today in truly horrible track conditions and this Fabien is now third in the points, with 49.

Sheridan Morais (Kawasaki DeltaFin Lorenzini) was in a good position until a slippery patch claimed him and he was highsided off. He was lucky to not be injured as his bike bounced back out onto the track after hitting the barriers and he will be ready to race again at Donington next weekend. Sheridan is now 13th in the points, with 17.

Kenan Sofuoglu: “I was happy in dry conditions and everything was perfect with our set-up for that. We did not make a really wet practice; only for the last five minutes when the track was wet. We tried something in the morning for those conditions and it worked out. I was just hoping we could get really good points before the race, even in wet conditions, but then I crashed on the warm-up lap. I crashed too easily and I was thinking that there was no grip on the track. At the beginning of the race I was too slow, after half the race I was getting the speed up but already Cluzel and Lowes had pulled a big gap. I knew third position was possible so lap-by-lap I caught up with Toth and passed him for good points. I think we should be quite happy to get this kind of results in these conditions.”

Sheridan Morais: “It was dodgy conditions but the thing we are worried about the most was standing water, but that did not seem to be much of a problem. We had only been able to do a few laps in wet conditions but in the race there we not too many issues. Unfortunately I had a bit of a highside and that put me out but I was feeling pretty good before that. The bike came back out of the barrier and hit me pretty hard, so I am banged and bruised up but luckily nothing is broken.”

[laidback]

Great work..must get austar so I can follow this live.

[Lt-Dan]

Almost had a tear in my eye when I saw Sykes cross the line so far in front last night ...

The frustrating thing, however, is that if the rain had of come down after two-thirds race distance and if positions stayed as they were, Sykes would be leading the championship by 1 point over Biaggi

Bring on Donington