Last time out Tom Sykes, from the official Kawasaki Racing Team, had his best ever weekend in Kawasaki colours in World Superbike posting a fifth and a seventh place finish, after starting from the second row of each grid.

Ian Lowry will join once more Sykes, as Chris Vermeulen carries on his long-term recuperation. Lowry was a points scorer in race one in Germany, and hopes for two more scores at a racetrack he has never seen before. Sykes is 15th overall, and has two riders in front that he could catch if he posts four strong results in the final four races - Jakub Smrz (six points ahead) and Ruben Xaus (15 points ahead).

Sykes believes that recent machine developments on his bike, plus a very positive tyre testing experience earlier in the year, will contribute to his cause at Imola. "I am looking forward to getting back to Imola because we had a positive test there a few months back," said Sykes. "We have had some good settings to work with since then too. We know where we are at with the bike and we have to take the settings we had in Germany on to Imola and get some more results like we had there. We just have to find a balance between the settings we had in the test at Imola and where the bike is now. Imola is a bit like a British track in some ways, some very bumpy sections as well, so you have to concentrate hard."

For Lowry pushing on to a new venue is another chance to show what he can do, in a class he knows is ultra-competitive. "I have never been to Imola before so this will be another learning experience for me," said Ian. "The boys have been there, testing earlier this year, and they said the bike was pretty good there. So I want to get out on track and get into it again. WSBK racing is still all new to me and I think the team are happy enough if I keep progressing and I feel better every time out on it. There are no slow riders out there in World Superbike!"