Paul Bird Motorsport's tenure as official representatives of the Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team in the World Superbike Championship ended in positive style as Joan Lascorz posted an impressive fifth in race one at Portimao at the weekend to equal his best race result this season.

The young Spaniard had qualified well at the Portuguese track and started each race from the second row but had two less than perfect starts and was made to fight hard to take his third top five finish of his rookie season. Finishing eighth in race two he ended up top Kawasaki rider in the final points table in 11th place, after showing some great consistency as he learned the intricacies of the Ninja ZX-10R along the way.

For Yorkshireman Tom Sykes, who gave the team a victory last month in Germany, it was to be a less successful end to the final round of the year. He finished eighth in the first race before a technical issue put him out of race two meaning he ended up in 13th place in the World Championship for the Penrith-based team.

Joan Lascorz:

"In race one, I lost some rear grip and it was difficult at times then on the last lap Biaggi came past me. But it was a top five placing like at Donington and Aragon which is good. In race two we had the same tyre choice but made a little change in suspension set-up. I did not make a good start again and I think on the first lap I was 12th. Near the end of the race I was a little faster but just not enough to finish any higher than eighth."

Tom Sykes:

"We struggled a bit all weekend with front end feel and race one was a big learning session. Badovini passed me in turn one and put me wide and onto the dirty bit of the track so I lost places. It was unfortunate but we had a great start and got up to fifth position at one time. We all know where we need to be and the team has a very good understanding of what I need from the bike. Race two was unlucky for s but that's racing sometimes."

Paul Bird, Team Owner:

"It's been a privilege to run the official Kawasaki team since 2009 and I'd like to say a huge thank you to the riders, the team, the organisers and our sponsors. We have achieved what we set out to do and that was to win a race on the brand new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R and both Tom and Joan have done a great job this season. We now are concentrating on other projects and we wish Kawasaki well in 2012."


Results - Race One

1, C Checa (Althea Racing)
2, S Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)
3, J Rea (Castrol Honda)
4, M Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)
5, J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team)
6, M Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
7, M Berger (Supersonic Racing Team)
8, T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
9, L Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
10, J Smrz (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)

Results - Race Two

1, M Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
2, E Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team)
3, J Rea (Castrol Honda)
4, C Checa (Althea Racing)
5, S Guintoli (Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing)
6, L Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)
7, M Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)
8, J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team)
9, A Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team)
10, M Berger (Supersonic Racing Team)
DNF T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)

Final Championship Standings

1, C Checa 505pts
2, M Melandri 395
3, M Biaggi 303
4, E Laverty 303
5, L Haslam 224
6, S Guintoli 210
7, L Camier 208
8, N Haga 176
9, J Rea 170
10, A Badovini 165
11, J Lascorz 161
13, T Sykes 141