24 Apr CHRONICLE OF THE THIRD ROUND OF THE SBK
The third round of the Superbike World Championship began on April 21 at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands where ISB Sport ambassadors, Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, contested one more race of the Superbike championship.
After a month off, Kawasaki Puccetti Racing has been able to verify the work it has been doing on Tom’s bike. The Englishman has made the first practice this morning, with cool conditions and wind. With a time of 1’37″169 he got the twentieth position. The second training session took place in the afternoon with slightly warmer temperatures. Sykes worked with the team’s technicians to adapt his Ninja to the fast Dutch circuit, improving on his previous time and setting a best time of 1’36″547.
After competing in free practice and working with his technicians to find the best setup for his ZX-10RR, the Englishman qualified twentieth in Superpole, but was forced to withdraw from Race 1 due to a technical problem.
This morning Sykes returned to the track for the Superpole Race, which was slightly delayed and reduced to eight laps after another driver broke his engine during the formation lap, leaving the track dirty. Tom made a quick start and this allowed him to recover several positions, but during such a short race the ISB Sport ambassador could not climb too many positions, crossing the nineteenth line. In the second and final race of the day, Sykes escaped well and was able to make his way into the field before finishing inside the points zone, in fifteenth place.
Tom Sykes #66
“A positive day. With a Superpole race of just eight laps, I wasn’t able to find good enough pace to climb up, while in race 2 the bike no longer displayed the problems we were having previously and I was able to focus on my race pace and reach the points zone. These aren’t the kind of results we’re looking for of course, but we’re on the right path. Thanks to the team for working so hard for me this weekend.”
The fourth round of WorldSBK will take place from 5 to 7 May at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, in Spain.