After a disturbed period of qualifying at Donington, raceday was equally unpredictable for the PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse riders Régis Laconi and Makoto Tamada.
Each rider had qualified down the order from where they had hoped to in wet conditions, but in the first race, held in dry conditions, Laconi ran off circuit and crashed, breaking his gear linkage. Tamada also fell, on a slippery patch of tarmac, and his machine was extensively damaged as it tumbled to a stop. He was not allowed to restart when the red flags came out, and an aggregate race was declared.
In race two, a sudden shower of rain just before the start forced the riders back onto a wet set-up, with Laconi scoring a point for 15th, with Tamada one place behind in 16th.
In the championship, Tamada is 17th, Laconi 18th.
Régis Laconi: “To start 26th in the wet in race two was really difficult and I spun the rear tyre off the startline. After that I tried to take it easy because the bike was not so good in the wet earlier in the weekend. But we had made some changes to the settings, quite small adjustments, but they were effective today. I finished 15th and that was after running off the track as well. The rain was so heavy at one time I did not see the white lines! I came back but I am happy to fight to the finish and know that I did my best. We have made a step with the set-up and that is good for us all.”
Makoto Tamada: “I really wanted to restart together with the other riders after the first red flag in race one, but the bike was seriously damaged in the crash and the regulations don’t permit me to use the second bike. In race two I know I could maybe have done better but I didn’t want to risk another crash. I just tried to finish the race and got 16th.”
