Makoto Tamada (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) finished 12th in race two at Losail, shortly after his team-mate Régis Laconi had secured a point in race one. Tamada had been forced out of race one with a technical problem but charged hard from a lowly starting position, passing many riders on the first few laps on his new model Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.
Laconi battled hard in each race, earning a 15th place finish for himself in race one, missing a point in race two by just one place. He suffered from having an imperfect machine set-up going into the race, which prevented him from making progress through the field.
The 18-lap races were won by Troy Bayliss and Fonsi Nieto and were held in dry and sunny conditions, with the strong winds that blighted qualifying much less powerful today.
Makoto Tamada: “It was a good end to the race weekend to finish in the points in race two. We had a lot of chattering from the bike on the first two days, and also this morning, but in the races it was a lot less. We had a technical problem in race one, but race two I started well, and the lap average was not so bad.”
Régis Laconi: “A lot better than qualifying but not what me or anyone in the team really wants. We had so many problems with chattering and it is hard to ride the bike like that. It has been hard to get rid of it. I tried my best in the races, and we tried a few different settings in the suspension in race two, but with little effect.”
