Makoto Tamada and Régis Laconi are about to experience their biggest weekend of the year aboard their Ninja ZX-10R machines.
Not only is the Misano circuit the home race for their San Marino based PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse team, but both riders will hope to make the best combined use of the latest design of rear swingarm, which has proved so effective in finding a good set-up recently.
Until now only Laconi was using the latest swingarm but Tamada will also be running with the same design at Misano. The team will also be running in blue and white livery at some stage on track, the colour of the independent state of San Marino’s national flag.
Each rider has knowledge of the current 4.180km Misano layout which was revamped then completely reversed from its previous incarnations before the race season started last year. Laconi has experience of it as a long-time member of the current PSG-1 team, and Tamada will remember it from his MotoGP experiences in 2007.
Of the two riders Laconi has had the more measurable success at Misano, scoring a double WSB win there in the 2005 season.
Régis Laconi: “I could really fight in the Nürburgring and we have definitely found more rear grip recently. I have to give great thanks to everyone in the team for this, Kawasaki, my chief engineer, the technicians, the Öhlins people, all of them. We are now making small steps to help me in the races, not trying to find big changes. Everything is working right now.”
Makoto Tamada: “We should be able to make another step forward with the setup at Misano and I’m glad that it is a track that I have ridden on before, and recently too. The last few tracks were completely new to me. My bike is a good base for racing and at Misano I want to show that. What we have to do now is fine-tuning. This race is also an important one for my team, as it is their real home round.”
