Khairuddin to Focus on Fitness Ahead of WorldSSP Debut
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Malaysia’s first ever full-time Supersport World Championship rider Zulfahmi Khairuddin has acknowledged the need for extra work to improve his fitness following the completion of a two-day test in Jerez.
Zulfahmi, who rides for Orelac Racing, noted that he would need to work harder on his strength and fitness in view of the heavier Supersport machine compared to his previous Moto3 bikes. He has nevertheless expressed delight with his first ever test session on the Kawasaki ZX6R machine.
“I clearly need to work on my physical fitness and strength because of the weight of the bike,” Zulfahmi said. “It is much heavier and I could feel the impact after seven laps. I’ll continue to work on my physical fitness when I return to Malaysia, so that I will be more ready at the second test in Australia. Overall, I am happy with the two-day tests. We had some problems with the bike on Day 1 and we could not do as many laps as we wanted but Day 2 was better and we managed to do more laps. There is still plenty that we need to work on to improve, in terms of the bike as well as my riding style, but we can only get better from here.
“I am very happy with the team and we have been working very well together. The team crew has a lot of experience in World Supersport and I am very keen to learn from them. My lap time has continued to improve with every lap. We are still about two seconds behind the fastest rider, but it is early days for me and the team is very happy with my progress. We are confident that we can go much faster with more tests and more time on the bike.”
Khairuddin is partnering Nacho Calero in the Orelac Racing Team this year as he debuts in WorldSSP, 7 years after his first Grand Prix appearance in the 125 World Championship in 2009.
