Joan Lascorz and Tom Sykes experienced very different raceday fortunes with Lascorz on the up but Sykes unable to find settings to compete over full race distance. Chris Vermeulen missed race two.

Lascorz had found set-up issues in qualifying and was only 19th on the grid, one place ahead of Vermeulen, while Sykes had qualified on the second row.

Joan proved remarkably adept at passing other riders in each race and he scored ninth in race one and eighth in race two, results he felt were good in the circumstances of starting each hot and physical race from the fifth row of the grid.

Unfortunately Tom saw good starts and strong pace in the early stages drop off dramatically to put him tenth in race one and 14th in race two.

For Vermeulen race one was a battle to finish after he re-injured his left elbow in a practice fall on Friday and after consultation with the team it was decided he should pull out of the second race.

Kawasaki Pedercini Team riders Roby Rolfo and Mark Aitchison worked their way to 14th and 11th place finishes for Rolfo and 16th and 12th for Aitchison.

Joan Lascorz:

“To go from 19th into the top ten two times is very good in the circumstances; good for me and the team. They were hard races and I had to pass a lot of other riders. Haslam and I battled together and with two laps to go I passed him in the last corner and touched him. In the next lap he did the same to me, but no problems, I have no problems with it, it’s just racing! We made the improvement in race one by changing the traction control a little and in the second race I only changed the suspension a small amount, based on my experiences of race one. The tyres were the same. I felt very good through the second race.”

Tom Sykes:

“I knew it would not be the easiest of weekends, but when it came to qualifying, with fresh tyres, I could make it count. We got on the second row, which is what we are aiming for each time but in the races - we did not think they would be quite that hard. Still this circuit was not going to suit the problems we are experiencing on the bike set-up and I cannot ride how I want to. I’m far from happy with today’s results, as I am sure most of the team are. Having said that, we are all in it together. I’m not going to let it knock my confidence and I will give it my all at the next race. I just hope that we can find a bit better balance sooner rather than later. If you look ay Misano and Aragon we also had a hot track surface and we were strong there.”

Chris Vermeulen:

“We have been struggling all weekend since the crash on Friday morning. I did warm-up and I said to the team I would be OK to race but 20 laps together was really hard. For the last eight I was riding around to just finish. My elbow had really swollen up and my back was sore after Friday. Together with the team we took the decision not to take any more risks and not ride in race two.”