Sykes Falls Trying New Options

On an opening day at Jerez, when Kawasaki’s normally metronomic riders each had crashes, Tom Sykes had not one but two of them, as he and his team tried to push the boundaries a little in set-up and settings. “We had two falls today because there was a small limitation on the bike,” said Sykes. “I crashed on one extreme and then the other extreme but from the same principle. It was probably just me experimenting on how to get around the problem and understand more. In testing it is not a problem, they were slow speed crashes and the second one I saved the bike because I was underneath it,” joked Sykes, who had a positive spin to put on his two get-offs.

“Overall I am happy because even with these two crashes we still get information from them,” said Sykes. “I lost the front both times but it is good to understand because that has been a bit of a limitation in the testing. It is something we are working on but even considering this we have great pace. That is a big surprise because I was not persevering for a lap time – and I was happier with our long distance performance.”

Sykes knows that this test is the most important of the four he will have soon completed since the end of the season in Qatar. “I want to be clear that we understand what we are doing and where we are going. I am really relaxed and feel we have a better potential than last season.