Englishman Tom Sykes and Frenchman Loris Baz will be out to get on the podium again this weekend, as they each did last time out, with Silverstone providing the second home race of 2012 for Sykes.

Tom’s season on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R has now included one race win, eight podiums, seven Superpole qualifying victories and three fastest laps. Most significantly of all, his two most recent second place finishes at Brno pushed him back into the top three in the championship, 38 points behind second place rider Marco Melandri and eight points ahead of fourth place rider Carlos Checa.

Tom has occupied a top three place in the championship rankings for virtually the whole season, only dropping out of this ranking after being taken out at Motorland Aragon.

For Sykes racing at his home round will bring extra pressures as well as extra pleasures but the combination of man, machine and team has shown its resilience on many occasions.

Loris Baz scored a personal career high point last time out at Brno, securing a podium finish in third, in only his ninth individual SBK race. The nineteen-year old rider is getting more and more comfortable on his official Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R with every outing and was even moved to say that he felt he had been riding the bike for over a year when he got on the podium at Brno.

The fact that a young talent like Loris, only nineteen and in his rookie SBK season, was able to finish on the podium at such an early stage of his career clearly demonstrates how much progress is being made in race development of the overall Ninja ZX-10R package.

Kawasaki Team Pedercini Superbike riders David Salom and Leandro Mercado will be out to their points tally at a circuit which is fast in places and slow in others. Salom made great strides forward in regulation qualifying at Brno, a factor that fills the team with some more optimism for strong raceday results in England.

Superstock 1000 FIM Cup rider Bryan Staring (Kawasaki Team Pedercini) has now won back-to-back victories and in doing so has moved up to third place in the points ranking overall. MRS Kawasaki rider Jeremy Guarnoni has posted two podium finishes in the most recent races, building his confidence to carry on his upwardly mobile season. He is currently fifth.

Tom Sykes:

“I am looking forward to getting to Silverstone to ride in front of a home crowd. If the weather is anything like as nice it has been in the last week then all the better. Going there, especially off the back of a strong weekend in Brno, is a little bit more exciting. I am looking forward to it even more. We made another step in the set-up of the Ninja ZX-10R last time out and that was witnessed by a lot of people. When the bike is working at its absolute best they can see how much better a job I can do. I am confident that when we nail the set-up each time I will be able to back up my strong qualifying performances. Our good results are due to a lot of hard work from Kawasaki, the team, and all our technical suppliers. I am glad we had two good races in Brno and grateful for the way things turned out, but to get two really good results in front of a home round means I will be even more satisfied. Sometimes at home rounds I find myself short of time because I know so many people, and we get to do more signing sessions, etc, so there are a few elements of preparation you have to keep focused on at your home races.”

Loris Baz:

“I know Silverstone from when I raced in Superstock and from BSB and I like the track; it is really good. It is also difficult because it has fast sections, slow sections, changes of direction and lots of changes in speed. I am looking forward to it especially after the good weekend we had in Brno, so we need to confirm this now. I look forward to going to England again because I speak English almost every day now and we communicate inside the team to work in English because everyone understands it.”

.