MSS Discovery Kawasaki has called an early halt to their Spanish testing duties after a very successful day at the Granada circuit of Guadix. With nothing left to test and with the schedule completed, the Essex-based team will now return home to the workshop to improve their Ninja ZX-10Rs still further. With both Billy McConnell and Stuart Easton less than a second away from the opposition with a machine with plenty of development left in it, the whole team is extremely satisfied that they are on-track for the first race of the season on April 6th at Brands Hatch. The final pre-season test comes at Snetterton, Norfolk, from March 22nd through to the 24th.
Stuart Easton, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R
“I was about six-tenths quicker than yesterday and we’re well within a second of the Honda/Suzuki guys at this stage and to be that close with what we’ve got is encouraging. We know that the new chassis is very good with masses of potential so I’m now looking forward to getting updated from the guys at the workshop as we begin to get more motor and develop the gearboxes. We’ll have better spec for Snetterton and maybe more for the first round at Brands. Some of the opposition may be faster at the moment, but we know they’re a little bit ahead of us with testing. We’re all extremely happy with the way this Spanish test has gone.”
Billy McConnell, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R
“Another pretty good day. We got down to a reasonable time although I did have a bit of an off today, it was a bit of a whoopsie, but Nick’s not so upset as it was a light one, so that’s not so bad. We know we’re stepping in the right direction so that’s the best thing. Like Stuart I’m looking forward to testing the results of the gearbox and motor work and testing at Snett – if the Pom weather is dry of course!”
Nick Morgan, Team Owner
“We’ve decided to call it a day as we’ve nothing more to test! Which is a good sign. All very positive once more! Billy got down to a 1m 14.2s lap, with Stuart just a tenth slower and that makes us about six-tenths down on some of the opposition, which considering we’ve got more motor to come is very encouraging indeed! We now know what works with the bike and what doesn’t. We’ve completed 2000km of testing since coming to Spain and we know the chassis is working very well indeed. Now we head back to the workshop and liberate some more motor and especially drive from the new Ninja ZX-10R. We’re very pleased with how the bike performs on the new Pirelli tyres, it doesn’t eat them, which is another very positive performance point.”
Stuart Simmonds, Joint Team Owner
“Great news from the boys in Spain. We’ll now come back to the workshop and get more power from the Ninja ZX-10R. Kawasakis are renowned for producing brake horsepower and as we’ve been running a few standard items we know there’s plenty more to come!”
