Régis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R) is in determined mood as he faces his home event this coming weekend, at the 4.411km Magny-Cours circuit in the centre of France.
Both he and his team-mate Makoto Tamada will be looking for consistent weather conditions in the two days of qualifying to allow them to compete for top grid positions, and then mount a charge on raceday. Most recent rounds have been overshadowed by poor weather in the early stages, and that has told on some of the final results.
At the last round in Italy Laconi scored good points in race two and at his home race he can count on the support of the local crowd to get behind his push for two more strong results as the 2008 season begins to wind down.
In the penultimate round of the 2008 season, Tamada will find himself at one of the WSB circuits that he does already know. But even at new circuits he has shown he can adapt quickly to any track layout he comes across in his first full year of WSB competition.
Currently Régis is 19th in the championship standings, on 44 points, with Makoto just one place and three points behind. After Magny-Cours they will each have one more race to contest, at the all-new circuit of Parkalgar, on the Algarve, on November 2.
Régis Laconi: “At the previous race in Italy we found something good on the bike set-up, by making the rear suspension a bit softer. It seemed to work quite well. So we will try something like that again. We were better on the fast parts than the slower parts at Vallelunga, and Magny Cours has both fast and slow corners. I try my best at every race, but obviously it is special to be racing at my home track this weekend.”
Makoto Tamada: “We have many things to solve with our set-up, but we are trying a different approach now. I know that the problems we have won't get solved overnight, but we will continue trying our best. I know Magny-Cours pretty well, so it should be good there if we can find good solutions for raceday.”
