Top Performance From Kawasaki WSS Duo At Jerez Tests
Four-time WSS champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) took his latest-spec Ninja ZX-6R to a remarkable 1’43.009 lap time on the second and final day of his team’s tests at Jerez de la Frontera. His new team-mate and WSS rookie Randy Krummenacher was also on great form in his first test with the team, posting a 1’43.639 personal best lap.
Sofuoglu used his new machine settings and components to the maximum to record his remarkable best time. It was enough to make his the sixth fastest lap of all the various categories on show, including Superstock 1000, BSB and other WSS machines.
Sofuoglu was enthused by this good early pace and although there is some way to go to finalise all the 2016 technical regulation changes on his machinery package, he left Jerez looking forward to the next track sessions.
Moving from Moto2 to WSS in 2016 Krummenacher was pleasantly surprised at many aspects of his new machine’s set-up, setting the second best WSS time at the tests. Working in a methodical way he made a big improvement in his times from day one to day two. He feels there is even more to come when he has more experience of the Pirelli tyres.
As well as the new twin-pronged attack from Kawasaki in the WSS class, Superstock 600 champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) took his very standard 2016 Ninja ZX-10R to a remarkable lap time first time out. His 1’43.414 was only just shy of the 2015 track best time in Superstock 1000. Razgatlioglu only had a race exhaust and some race bodywork fitted on his all-new 2016 machine, which had a standard suspension and engine set-up at this test.
Kenan Sofuoglu: “The last two days we had a lot of work to do but it was very positive work. I made a huge change in my bike, different suspension now, and I made a track record in this test. The bike has improved a lot and after two days the race simulation was also very fast and the consistency of the lap times was good. This was a very positive test and now I can relax in the winter because this was the first test for 2016 for me and we have started with an incredibly good pace. Our best lap here today was half a second faster than my pole position time in 2015, with the same tyres. We also tried many other things and all the things we tried worked well. For us this was a very positive test for the whole team.”
Randy Krummenacher stated: “In general the test was really positive. Today I experienced the race tyre, which was really impressive in how much grip it had. For sure I did not make the maximum out of the grip because I was so surprised at how much grip there was. So next time I am sure I can improve my lap time, now that I have a bit of experience. We are already quite close to Kenan, which is really good, but we have a lot of work to do and we will keep on working. Only one test, but already I do not miss the past. I am here in the right time and in the right place.”