As the seventh round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship approaches KRT riders Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes will soon reach the midpoint of the season, at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli this coming weekend. This will be the second round of the campaign to be held at an Italian venue, after the Imola round in mid-May.

Having taken a win apiece on their official Ninja ZX-10RRs at the recent Donington Park event in the UK Rea and Sykes sit 1-2 in the championship rankings, with Jonathan having scored eight race wins and Tom one.

Having proven his ability to compete for either first or second place at every round of the campaign Rea will start the races at Misano with the knowledge that he won both 2016 WorldSBK races there, with his team-mate Sykes just behind each time.

In all, Rea has recorded four previous wins at Misano and Sykes three. Between them they have won all six of the most recent races at the 4.226km long circuit, which is located near the Adriatic coast of Italy.

After Tom and Jonathan each won races at Donington Park recently Kawasaki reached the important landmark of 100 race wins in WorldSBK. After a successful test at Misano recently both KRT riders share the goal of adding to that overall winning total this coming weekend.



Jonathan Rea, stated: 

“After spending some time at home soaking up the Isle of Man TT vibes I’m really excited to arrive in Misano, especially after our test there a couple of weeks ago. Now we have a good understanding of how the bike performs in different temperatures. We are even better equipped than before to build a solid base after focusing on conserving our tyre life, and that gives me some more confidence. Misano is a circuit that means a lot to me as I took my first ever WorldSBK race there, and I always hang out after races in the local area for a small holiday. I love everything about this race; the atmosphere, the circuit, the fans, the food and the beautiful beaches up and down the coast.”

Tom Sykes, stated: 

“We have been coming closer to where we want to be and at Donington we had a great performance, despite not winning race two. In race one we did what we had to do, and had good speed. In race two I got boxed in and it was not until lap seven that I got through. From then on my speed was really good. I was very disappointed to miss out but luckily we moved straight on to the Misano tests. The boys kept working hard and I have to say I left the tests very happy, with a lot of information and mileage done. Considering my previous physical condition I was very happy to do 100 laps on day one of the tests and just over 50 on day two. Finally, I feel I am going to Misano ready to step-up my game and enjoy it more, focusing on getting more points and overall performance.”