Phillip Island in Australia is the venue for round two of the World Superbike Championship on Sunday March 2, only one week after the opener at Losail in Qatar. For the PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Team Losail brought the first points of the campaign but the task ahead at Phillip Island is clear for riders Makoto Tamada and Regis Laconi; find an overall race set-up to match the awesome power output of the 2008 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R racebike.
Phillip Island is well-known territory for both Laconi and Tamada, as each has raced at the 4.445km circuit on the very southern tip of the Australian mainland on numerous occasions.
At one of the fastest and most demanding circuits imaginable, the ZX-10R is expected to provide the riders with enough power to reach or breach a 320kmph top speed down the Bass Straight, but the usually changeable weather conditions this far south in Australia make most pre race predictions redundant.
Both PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse riders tested with their new machines at Phillip Island in January, setting times in the 1’33 bracket. After racing on a Saturday in Qatar, the Australian races take place on Sunday, 2 March.
Makoto Tamada “We got the bike set-up better on raceday in Qatar than we did in qualifying, and we hope to make more improvements at Phillip Island. With a decent result in race two at Qatar, I feel we could make more improvements. I certainly hope we can, for everyone in the team.”
Régis Laconi
“I don’t really want to say too much about Phillip Island in case I spoil my luck, but I hope things will be better for us there. We really want to improve the bike and make it fun to ride, because then we can go faster all through the race. We found improvements in Qatar, and we want to make more steps forward in Australia.”
