From a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHINYA!

Shinya Nakano got something of a surprise when he returned to the pit box after morning warm-up ahead of this afternoon’s Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

The Fuchs Kawasaki rider, who celebrates his 27th birthday today, arrived back in the box to find a huge birthday cake filling the space where he’d normally park his Ninja ZX-RR.

But even a birthday couldn’t distract Nakano from thinking about this afternoons 21-lap Malaysian Grand Prix; the Fuchs Kawasaki rider insisted on debriefing his crew chief on the warm up session before getting down to the task of blowing out candles and slicing up the cake for his crew.

“We had a few problems with one of the bikes in warm-up, so I was thinking about that as I turned into the pit box,” commented Nakano. “As you can imagine, I wasn’t expecting to come face to face with a giant birthday cake!”

“It was a nice surprise after a warm-up session that was interrupted by a minor electrical problem with the bike. This afternoon’s race is sure to be tough, but I’ll be trying as hard as I can to repeat the success we had in Motegi, because champagne is easily the best drink to have with birthday cake!” continued the Japanese ace.

The Kawasaki Racing Team also presented Nakano with a souvenir of his Motegi podium, in the form of a framed photograph of the Fuchs Kawasaki rider spraying the enthusiastic Japanese crowd with victory champagne.