News

Pre-season testing for the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship continued this week as Jerez hosted a private test across Tuesday and Wednesday.

Kawasaki and Yamaha were the only manufacturers on-track in the south of Spain, as Tom Sykes continued developing the new Ninja from where he left off in Aragon.

However, the 2013 World Champion suffered an unusual incident during the day.

“Overall the test was pretty good,” Sykes began. “We had some issues to deal with but (Tuesday) started well considering the condition of the track early in the morning (following heavy rain on Monday). Our plan was to work through a lot of things, some interesting components. All things considered, I am happy with the progress.

“I also hit a bird - and during a good lap! That caught me by surprise and I had to enter the pits because of the impact. The bird hit the screen and then hit me in the front of my crash helmet, right on my visor and chin bar! On the whole, it was a good test and it has set us up to be ready for the next one.”

For the latest title winner, Jonathan Rea, the test was his first with the 2016 machine, having missed the earlier MotorLand outing due to the birth of second son Tyler. His Tuesday was not trouble-free either, as he lost two and a half hours of track time following a crash at Turn 5; although the bike did not make contact with the barriers, the lengthy delay was due to his team needing to clear mud from the machine.

“Honestly, testing is not my favourite part of the job but it has been necessary to make a really constant effort because Kawasaki has brought many new components for the 2016 bike,” explained the 2015 World Champion. “It has quite a different character from last season so we had to evaluate many things. The main thing was the chassis balance of the bike and we have some positives from that.

“The engine character is quite different to the 2015 bike as well, so we have been working with the electronics to maximise that and make it suit my style. We got through the vast majority of the test items and we are happy because we were able to lap a lot faster than we did during race weekend, with a similar temperature. So that is encouraging.”

Furthermore, Marcel Duinker (Crew Chief to Sykes) explained that his rider is now running at 99% of full 2016 specification, having begun testing with a ‘Hybrid’ version of the new bike, whereas Pere Riba (Crew Chief to Rea) was pleased to report that almost 90% of the items planned to be trialled this week have been tested.

Kawasaki Racing Team will continue testing at MotorLand Aragon on Monday 16 November. The two-day test will also feature Nicky Hayden, as the 2006 MotoGP World Champion makes his WorldSBK testing debut on a Honda.