Baz eager to step up his game in 2013
"We worked very well during the winter" said Loris Baz. "Kawasaki have done a great job, the fork I'm using now gives me a much better feeling at the front. This was our biggest problem, but now I can push without ending up making mistakes."
Baz's first full season in the series comes along with high expectations, but the youngster from France claims not to feel any extra weight on his shoulders: "I don't feel any pressure on myself result-wise" he continued "I just need to be consistent and to avoid crashing so much as I did last year. If we keep doing our job the right way as we did in winter testing I'm sure the results will come."
His team-mate Tom Sykes is well known for being an easy guy to work with and his last year's performance showed how good the Kawasaki package is. His unique riding style, though, did not help Baz finding the right set-up for his own Ninja ZX-10R.
"The relationship with Tom is excellent, we share our data and talk a lot. The problem is that our riding styles are completely different. That's why it was so difficult last year to find a proper set-up, we couldn't rely on his so we had to find our own settings for the bike. It took a bit more time, but we're heading in the right direction now."
If there's one area where Baz feels he needs to improve is qualifying: "In Phillip Island Race 1 I showed I could battle at the front after moving off well from the grid. A good starting position would help me keep up with the leading pack without forcing my way through in the early part of the race. The Aragon round will tell how much we have improved, as in testing we struggled a bit finding the right set-up for this very track."
