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aprile 13, 2019 - Kawasaki Racing

Superbike - Kawasaki: Strong Friday For KRT At Assen

Comunicato Stampa disponibile solo in lingua originale. 

Press release available only in original language. 

With official Kawasaki riders #jonathanrea and #leonhaslam setting  second and third best lap times respectively at the end of the opening day in #thenetherlands, it was a successful start at a very cold #assen Circuit in the north of the country.

Very low air and track temperatures, but thankfully dry weather, welcomed the KRT duo to the 4.542km long #assen as they experienced their opening two outings on the new #ninjazx10rr at this classic circuit

Rea looked on course to take the fastest time of all today but a late push from Tom Sykes saw Rea finish up just 0.003 seconds from the overnight lead. The times were incredibly tight in general, with Haslam a mere 0.013 seconds from the fastest, and the top five riders were covered by just 0.031 seconds after two 50-minute practice sessions.

Jonathan had started the day well, leading the first practice session by 0.165 seconds with Leon seventh at that point, before his move up to third after FP2. Finishing second and third respectively gives each rider a boost that there will be more to come on Saturday, first in Superpole qualifying and then in the opening race of the weekend.

A bizarre start to Friday for the #WorldSBK riders saw a red flag being thrown to halt FP1 shortly after it had started. A wild hare on the circuit caused a possible hazard to the riders, before it was chased off to safety.

Jonathan Rea, stated: “A very positive day to be honest. We have changed the bike set-up a little bit and gone back in a different direction from what we had been in the winter tests and the first few rounds. I have gained a little bit of agility on the bike set-up and I am able to do things a little bit differently. The bike is turning better in the longer corners and I am able to make the difference, so the window is a little bit bigger. With such a big change, step-by-step, I need to adapt a little bit more. Of course it is a learning process and I feel quite good, but here the temperatures are so low that it is important for us to analyse both the SC0 and SC1 option rear tyres for tomorrow. We need to understand exactly where the crossover in performance is, if any. Then we can find our race set-up. I feel quite positive after the work we have done today and we understand where we need to improve for tomorrow." 

Further information in the press release to download