After a brilliant weekend of success at the previous SBK round at Motorland Aragon KRT riders Tom Sykes, Loris Baz and SBK Evo rider David Salom now face a circuit which is also well-known to all of them, the historic and challenging Assen.

Last time out in the 2014 Superbike World Championship series reigning world champion Tom Sykes took the championship lead after posting two wins in Spain, securing the Superpole award and a new lap record to boot.

The KRT squad was also buoyed by the continuing great early season form of Loris Baz, who in scoring two second place finishes in Spain remained in second place overall in the championship, only four points behind Tom. Like Sykes, Baz has only been off the podium once in 2014, at the very first race of the year in Australia. In the Manufacturers’ Standings Kawasaki leads by ten points, while in the Team Standings Kawasaki is ahead by 33 points.

The upward direction of travel for the official Kawasaki effort in WSBK racing continued in Spain at the previous round as David Salom’s two great raceday rides in the SBK Evo category, despite the pain from a recent hand injury. His performances – 13th and tenth overall – equate to a second and then a ‘win’ in the Evo category extend his lead to six points. He has led the Evo classifications since the very first race in this new category and he is now ranked 11th overall in combined SBK and Evo championship table.

The challenge of Assen is a welcome one for all KRT riders, with each of them happy to go to the there for the next round for their own reasons and in large part because their Ninja ZX-10R machines have been performing at a very high level in the early rounds. Last year Sykes won the first race at Assen on his way to the championship win while Baz scored a podium for third place in the second race of the day last April.

The current 4.542km Dutch track is just the latest in a layout that has changed a lot over the decades since its original use as a pure road circuit but Assen still provides fast and often positively cambered corners for the competitors to negotiate. Rider skill and intelligence are at a premium at Assen and slipstreaming battles are a regular part of proceedings as riders usually break off to form hotly contested small groups.

The next races after the Assen round will take place at another famous racetrack - Imola in Italy - on 11 May.


Tom Sykes:

“It was a good weekend for us in Aragon. I enjoyed the full weekend and the racing so I am looking forward to Assen. It is a track that in the past has given us much better results than Aragon used to so our improvement in form in Spain can be the model for us this weekend. Assen is a circuit that is great for racing, great for spectators and I enjoy the layout. The Ninja ZX-10R works well there so I am hoping to have another strong weekend. Assen has always been a good track for the British riders but it is not at all like any circuits in the UK. In Britain it is all stop-and-start but in Assen you have got banked corners so it is like riding a roller coaster. I personally do not see any link between Assen and British tracks but British riders seem to like it there! The last chicane always provides some excitement as well and there is a massive grandstand right at that point, always full of fans. Last year we became world champions after a slow start but this year we are off to a much better start, which is nice. I am confident and happy in my own capabilities.”

Loris Baz:

“I feel really strong now, really confident with the bike. Every time we go on the bike we are fast now so we do not have to push hard to stay with the leaders. Every time we go out we are in the top four. That is all really positive and in Aragon we showed that we could be strong on a track that we have never been really fast at in the past. That was really good to see. We did not ride Aragon a lot this winter so we had to confirm all the progress we made when we got there last weekend, and we did it. I am sure that at all the tracks, knowing where we have come from last year, we can be fast at this year. At Assen it is maybe different because I was fast there last year and made my first dry weather podium. I am really happy to go there because it is one of my favourite tracks in Europe so I want to make this weekend a good one. Assen has mostly all fast corners and that is why I enjoy riding motorcycles. I love the feeling we have in those quick corners, and I have always been fast in high-speed corners. I do not know if it is because of my size, or if I am less scared than the others! At Assen, all the back part of the track is fast and I would have liked to ride on the old layout, because that looked like fun. I am always happy to go to Assen to race and the Superbikes are very famous in Holland, so there are always lots of fans there.”

David Salom:

“I feel a little better than in Motorland Aragon as I have had lots of physiotherapy on my hand. Since Aragon I have been either resting it or working on it to be ready for Assen. I cannot push it too much. We won the first race at Motorland and our championship position is good in the Evo class. We remained first in the Evo standings and now we go to Assen with my hand not quite perfect yet but for sure better than it was in Motorland. I really like Assen, always did, even in my first year in WSS racing. I liked it a lot although it is not possible to relax your concentration even for a short time, because you are always changing direction. It should be good for me this time because there is not a lot of hard braking. My bike should work well there.”

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