WorldSBK Season Resumes In Earnest For The Kawasaki Racing Team
Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes will recommence their challenge for the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship title on their Ninja ZX-10R machinery this coming weekend, at the Lausitzring in Germany. Track action will get underway on Friday 16th September, with WorldSBK races to be held on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th.
At the most recent round of the championship, which took place way back in early July in the United States of America, Rea and Sykes took a win apiece at Laguna Seca on the all-conquering 2016 version of the Ninja ZX-10R.
As the season gets underway again KRT’s official riders sit first and second in the championship standings – Rea on 368 points and Sykes on 322 – with four rounds and eight points scoring races remaining. The next nearest challenger after nine of the 13 championship rounds have been completed, is Chaz Davies, who is 62 points behind Tom.
After taking possession of the latest 2016 specification Ninja ZX-10R last winter 2015 world champion Rea has scored eight race victories in the current season and 2013 world champion Sykes has taken five. Rea has recorded 37 WorldSBK race victories in his career to date, Sykes 31.
As the Lausitzring was last used as a WorldSBK venue way back in 2007 neither Jonathan nor Tom have raced at the multi-use German venue in a full world championship class. Both have, however, benefited from riding near standard specification Ninja ZX-10Rs in a short test session organised during the summer break, just to get a feel for the circuit layout. Sykes has, in fact, raced and won at the Lausitzring circuit in the past, when competing in a one-make championship during the early years of his career.
The 4.255km long Lausitzring circuit sits within a banked oval and forms part of an overall motorsport and motor industry facility that has hosted many forms of racing and testing since its launch in 2000. With vast spectator grandstands opposite a wide pitlane, designed for NASCAR-style car race meetings, it is a unique venue on the calendar. A return to the Lausitzring also maintains an important German round in the WorldSBK series as a whole.
Recharged and refreshed after the long break in the season the entire WorldSBK circus will now meet up on alternate weekends until the season finale at Losail, in Qatar on 30th October.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “I rode at the Lausitzring recently on my own road bike Ninja ZX-10R. It was good to get some track time at a new track to me. Our rivals had tested there so it was important. It has been such a long summer break. For a few weeks at the start I enjoyed just being at home and after that I knuckled down to be in ideal condition for the last few races. I really put some effort in at the gym, riding motocross and my bicycle. The last four rounds are an important time and they come along in quick succession. It is important to be razor sharp to give myself the best possible chance through to the end of the year. My focus now is to increase the championship lead. Personally, I am looking at the last four races as one block because it is going to go by so fast.”
Tom Sykes, stated: “I lapped the Lausitzring on a Ninja ZX-10R roadbike in a session that Kawasaki organised recently, during the summer break. I think I won a Lausitzring race that was part of a one-make roadbike series, which was some years ago now. After the long break I am happy to get back into racing and go back to Germany again. I have some good memories of the Lausitzring. The track itself is good as I like the layout but I think there are some areas where the width of the track is quite narrow. I have had a good summer but I am really looking forward to getting back onto the Ninja ZX-10R and really trying to capitalise on the pace we had before the break.”