GIL Kawasaki riders Katsuaki Fujiwara and Chris Walker finished combined qualifying in 18th and 20th positions respectively, finding Assen a tough circuit to master in dry conditions.
In the wet the Kawasaki duo were much more competitive, with Fujiwara second fastest in the rainy morning session today and Walker eighth.
Fujiwara and Walker will each start from the fifth row of the grid, but they face 21-laps of the 4.555km circuit prepared for anything, after practicing in conditions ranging from bright sunshine to rain.
Fujiwara is 1.4 seconds from pole man Broc Parkes, with Walker 1.6 off Parkes’ new track best of 1’40.895.
Katsuaki Fujiwara: “We have made improvements but the bike is still quite sensitive to changes in set-up. In wet conditions the bike is very stable and we could go fast, but in the high-speed corners the bike feels quite heavy and you have to push the handlebars quite hard to change direction. But when we have a really good setting we can be very fast. In the race we will ride hard, like we always do, so tomorrow will be the time to use my eight years of riding experience in the Supersport class.”
Chris Walker: “We made a big step forward today because we went 1.2 seconds quicker than yesterday, on the same type of tyres, but it is still not quite enough. I needed a bit of clear track as well to improve my time. I need another good start tomorrow, and have to keep my head down. I feel very confident doing the lap times I can do now but I need to find half a second to really be on the race pace. Now the bike is going better I need to step it up.”
