The Kawasaki Racing Team duo of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes are brimming with confidence ahead of the opening round of the 2015 eni FIM Superbike World Championship, given the strong pace shown during the two-day test performed earlier in the week at Phillip Island. With both riders sure there is still room for improvement, the new season is looking promising for the factory Kawasaki effort.

Despite claiming he was not able to perform at his very best on the single lap, Jonathan Rea ended the official test with the second fastest lap time aboard his ZX-10R.

“I’ve just had my test head on, really, trying to go through all the new material and we also reconfirmed the stuff we tested at Jerez,” Rea said. “I actually prefer here a set of forks I declined there (in Jerez), for example. We found a little bit of pace with that today (Tuesday), I was able to do a long run and in the end put on a set of fresh tyres to attempt a lap time. All in all, it was a good day.

“Actually I have been struggling to take the best out of a new tyre here and I set my quickest time past lap ten, which is pretty uncharacteristic for the Pirelli tyres. At the end we bumped up into second and we are happy with what we have done so far.”

2013 WorldSBK Champion Tom Sykes had a somewhat difficult moment on the second day as he highsided at the last turn of the track. The Briton escaped with no injuries and no loss of confidence and is now looking forward to the weekend, hoping to perform well on a track that is not his favourite on the calendar.
“From a rider’s point of view, nothing strange. I went into the last turn and I was off the gas when I lost the rear. A very strange crash but luckily I got away with it,” Sykes said. “It was a nasty highside and that corner is really fast. I’m relatively relaxed, we have done what we needed to do. We are slowly heading in the right direction, so over the distance I’m very happy. We know we can improve in some areas but we haven’t gone yet for the pure single lap; some other guys have tried that but we will focus more on that on Saturday afternoon.

“We certainly have come across some limitations in winter testing with the new regulations. I’m working with unbelievably talented people. The engineers, my crew chief and Kawasaki are all doing a great job. We have been able to cross that bridge. Lap times are relatively promising, the character and behaviour of the ZX-10R are quite a pleasant surprise. Phillip Island is not my circuit but we have had a pole in the past and the plan is to get a front row start for the races.”

The next track action will come with opening Free Practice for Round 1 on Friday morning.