While most of the World Superbike grid was at Portimao for their final three days of testing before the winter break, Kawasaki riders Tom Sykes and Joan Lascorz hit the track at Valencia.
The KRT Racing Team tested for three days at Valencia, where Sykes set a best lap of 1'33.1, which is about a tenth of a second faster than the fastest qualifying time set at the circuit.
"The tests went well and we ended up doing a 1'33.1 lap time on a race tire," Sykes said. "We have worked through a lot of different things, we are working well in the garage and I am relaxed... We have a new electronics package and found a better overall machine balance for me... I think we have come a long way even since the post-season Portimao test. The bike tells me what it is doing quite a lot better than before, and the improved feedback tells me when I am arriving at the limit."
Sykes and Lascorz worked with the KRT Superbike team to get the Ninja ZX-10R race ready since a new testing ban will keep the World Superbike riders won't be able to ride during the winter months.
The KRT Team will get to hit the track one more time before the 2012 World Superbike season begins at Phillip Island. Sykes and Lascorz will have their final testing session in mid-January at Almeria.
"I am very happy the way the test went because I set good lap times and I was very happy with the performance of the bike and the team," Lascorz said. "We made a lot of changes to the bike, changed a lot of general settings and worked on the suspension. Some are now much different from last year. All the staff worked well together again. I think I learned most from this test in terms of finding out more about our latest machine settings and then finding a more consistent good pace. These things should allow us to challenge closer to the top in 2012. Tom was very fast and we both worked well with race tires."
