KRT riders Tom Sykes and Loris Baz each had their first test sessions in Australia cut short after crashes and now the riders and team are preparing to come back strong in a few days time.

The 2013 season came one large step closer at the private tests organised at Phillip Island in Australia and despite the bad luck suffered after such a strong campaign of European-based winter testing, all in the official Kawasaki effort now look forward to getting back into action in preparation for raceday on Sunday 24 February.

Sykes fell and injured his left hand on day one after less than ten laps of the PI circuit, which has recently been resurfaced. He underwent a medical examination right away and will be ready to take to the track once again in a few days for the official pre-race tests.

Loris was posting fast times on his first visit to Phillip Island but pushed a little too hard on day one and had a high speed fall. It was decided to rest him to be ready for the next tests at the track in the state of Victoria, after he fell hard and suffered pain in his back.

Now the team turn their thoughts to the official test sessions, on Monday and Tuesday 18 and 19 February, before the first practice sessions for the opening round start for real on Friday 22. Raceday is Sunday 24 February.


Tom Sykes:

“I hurt my left hand in a crash after less than ten laps of the circuit, so we decided to rest up afterwards so I can be ready for the official tests in a few days. I do not do much crashing but I got caught out and these things happen in racing. Now we just have to react in the best way to be ready for the next test and then the race. There is no point pushing it because my first flying lap at Phillip Island was nearly into the 1’34s, so I have confidence with my feeling on the bike. We have a test next week and between Kawasaki and the boys in the team, plus all our technical sponsors, we have made massive progress over the winter, so the bike is ready to go. All we missed out on so far are a few extra laps.”

Loris Baz:

“It was my first time here and I like the track a lot. I was going very well for a time but I crashed on corner two after 30 laps. It was a big crash and I want to say sorry to Pere, the team and KHI, and I made the mistake. I felt some pain in my back and the team decided not to carry on and to use the time to repair all material to make preparations for the two official test days. I'm really motivated to go again so let's see how we go.”

Marcel Duinker, Crew Chief Sykes:

“Technically speaking, we were sorted already with the bike before this test. I believe that we can go well from now and in terms of the bike and the way things have gone in previous winter tests, we should be ready. We did not do so many laps before Tom had his crash but decided not continue. Tom is ready to test on Monday so we will see how much we can do then.”

Pere Riba, Crew Chief Baz:

“This was the first time for Loris at this track and right away he was going very fast. It seemed like the bike was working well for him on the settings we had from the Jerez test. We just did laps at the beginning, not trying anything new, to give Loris time in the track. So to be doing 1’33 lap times after only 30 laps was very fast. Then he had the crash, so now we prepare for the next tests.”

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