Kawasaki keep up development flow on ZX-10R

A new model will replace the current Kawasaki ZX-10R in 2011, but the official Kawasaki Racing Team has continued to keep up a high pace of development of their 2010 machine.

Tom Sykes and Chris Vermeulen had new Showa suspension settings and other new initiatives to try at the recent Imola tests, on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Sykes was able to make best use of them, posting the tenth fastest time of the tests, on the morning of the second day.

Said Tom, "We have done a lot of testing over these two days and that has been really good. We have tested just about everything, made a lot of progress and also seem to have found some consistency on tyres, so overall a positive test and we have tried out a lot of stuff." With the test at Imola coming so soon after the intense Misano race, Sykes was quick to praise the efforts put in by his team. "Hats off to the whole of the team; they have worked hard and lots of things have been changed on the bike," said Tom. "It has been a busy two days and I will definitely sleep well tonight!"

Vermeulen did not attempt to put in a fast time near the end of the tests, his first real test since he hurt his knee way back in February, but he was happy to have found new Pirelli tyres that seem to suit the ZX-10R well in race trim. "The new tyres that Pirelli has brought have been good. We have gone through some of the parts that have been introduced through the year and this is the first chance I have been able to do something on the bike without being under the pressure of race weekend since my accident. Conditions were pretty extreme so we were trying to get as much good information as we could. Consistently we are a lot closer to the front, so that is very positive."