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The Grand Prix of Valencia got
off to a testing start today for the Kawasaki Racing Team as
the first two of the weekend's practice sessions took place at
the technical, 4km Spanish circuit. However, by the end of the
afternoon, there were marked improvements in both riders' performances,
indicating things will progress nicely in time for Sunday's race.
After the fast, fluid circuits of the recent overseas rounds,
which saw the 800cc Ninja ZX-RR come into its own, the complex,
"stop and go" layout of the Valencia track proved somewhat
more difficult to conquer instantaneously. However, Randy de
Puniet established himself on track by the end of the second
session, taking well over a second off his morning practice best.
Indeed, with a time of 1'33.519, the 26-year-old Frenchman came
in sixth fastest, just 0.551 seconds behind the day's leading
man, Casey Stoner, and a minuscule 0.018 seconds behind Chris
Vermeulen. He also recorded a fourth-highest top speed of 298kmh,
so ended both sessions with increased confidence after he and
his crew had carried out numerous improvements to his bike over
the course of the day.
De Puniet's team mate, Anthony West, struggled a bit more, recording
a best time of 1'34.413 after the two hours' worth of practice.
However, this is over half a second off his fastest of the morning
and still only 1.445 seconds behind Stoner. If some early problems
with grip can be solved during tomorrow's sessions, we could
easily see the 26-year-old Australian moving up the field.
The Ninja, with its proven and highly-impressive power, lends
itself well to more flowing tracks. Shorter, tighter circuits,
such as Valencia, make for more of a challenge, something the
team relishes. Therefore, there is no shortage of confidence
in the Kawasaki garage that both riders will be prepared and
fired-up for Saturday afternoon's qualifying.
Randy de Puniet - #14 - 6th - Best Lap 1'33.519
"We've improved the bike a lot, especially regarding corner
entry and exit, and it's getting better all the time. Rear grip
hasn't been a particularly strong area so we've been trying a
variety of different settings throughout the day. I've been riding
with a hard compound tyre on the rear and, because of that, I've
had quite a few slides today. We did try a softer compound but,
whilst it was better with grip, we have our doubts as to whether
or not it will be long-lasting enough for the race. The front's
fine though. It's a tight track and it's strange to come back
to this sort of layout after the circuits we've been to lately.
Certainly, compared to Malaysia, there's nothing like as much
grip but tomorrow's another day and we'll see where we go. My
times haven't been bad at all but, without doubt, with some stronger
tyres I could definitely improve my times, raising me a few places
and increasing the gap behind me."
Anthony West - #13 - 17th - Best Lap 1'34.413
"Admittedly, I didn't feel much confidence in either the
front or rear today; I'm getting a lot of movement both on entry
and exit, under braking and acceleration. The grip isn't sufficient
at the moment for me to ride as hard as I'd like to. But we've
tried a number of things today, especially regarding the suspension,
and there have been some improvements. Still, we're going to
discuss it further and come up with a good strategy to increase
my confidence so tomorrow I can go faster."
Naoya Kaneko - Kawasaki Technical Manager
"At the moment, Anthony's lacking the confidence he needs
to go fast into and out of corners, so we need to concentrate
on his suspension set up to make it work better for him. He is
having some issues with grip at both the front and rear of the
bike so we will check our data and make some improvements for
his package tomorrow. With Randy, we have also seen some problems
with sliding so we will work on both his set up and engine management
to sort it out. Regarding tyres, we still need to see what the
track temperature will do, and what conditions will be like,
before making our final choices but I'm sure we can find the
combinations we need. I have no doubt that we can overcome today's
issues and look forward to getting both riders in a position
to qualify well tomorrow." |
