Tom Sykes, a rider who took the previous official Kawasaki machine to some great rides at the end of last year, has an all-new bike in 2011; a new bike which is already showing itself to be an improvement.

"The Ninja ZX-10R is a brand new bike," he says, "and the first few tests we had have been fairly positive. At the official IMS testing at Portimao we came out fairly decent, which for Kawasaki I think was very good, because Portimao was one of our worst tracks last year."

Part of the reason for his quiet confidence on the eve of 2011 is that for racing use the new bike is already an improvement on the previous version. "The bikes are two completely different machines. At the moment the new bike does everything better. Last year the Kawasaki seemed to stop very well in a straight line, and I expected not to improve on that this year because it was such a strong point - but Kawasaki still managed to improve on that with the new bike, let alone everything else. Possibly one of the biggest changes is the ability to hold a tighter line with the new bike. There are big changes this year."

Sykes is keeping any personal goals he has quiet for now but it is obvious he feels in a good position at this stage of his career. "I have targets and goals set out in my head, but I am not a rider who shouts about what he wants to achieve. I do not been any extra pressure from anybody else. I am going to go out there and give 110% as always. With Kawasaki and PBM behind me I think we have a good base package to move forward this year. I have worked with a lot of these guys before in the British Championships, and then again last year in WSBK, so my comfort level with this team is brilliant really. I am so relaxed in the garage."