Home Round Beckons For Both KRT Riders at Donington

The sixth round of the FIM Superbike World Championship takes place at Donington Park this coming weekend and it is the only UK round for on-form KRT riders Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes.

Rea, who has won a remarkable eight out of ten races so far in 2015, has also notched up a race win for himself at Donington in the past, capitalising on an opportunity in the final lap of race two in 2012 to score a popular home victory.

Tom Sykes, Champion in 2013 with KRT, is the most successful WSB rider of recent times at Donington, having taken a double win not only last year but also in 2013. He is now looking toward his first 2015 season race win harder than ever, after scoring two second place finishes at Imola last time out.

Since joining Kawasaki this season Rea has become the joint eighth most successful WSB rider of all time in terms of individual race wins, having grown his overall tally to 23, thanks to a double victory at Imola on May 10th.

Rea clicked through the landmark of 150 race starts at Imola, and has now finished on the podium of 52 individual WSB races.

Sykes made real progress with the balance of his set-up at round five in Imola, modifying his machine settings and aspects of his riding style after the advent of new technical regulations for 2015.

Approaching their home round Rea is the championship leader with 240 points and Sykes is up to third, on 128 points.

The 4.023km Donington layout Rea and Sykes will compete on this weekend is one of sharp contrasts, with the majority of the circuit being flowing and rhythmical but the final Melbourne Loop section featuring one chicane, two hairpins, and three areas of heavy braking.

Two more European circuits will come along for the WSB riders soon after Donington, with raceday at Portimao arriving on June 7th and Misano hosting its WSB weekend between June 19th and 21st.

Jonathan Rea: “I think the formula we have found in the working relationship between me and the rest of the team, my crew chief and the engineers at KHI is going very well. We need to continue that way of working because Donington has presented some challenges to me in the past, as a rider. But last year, when I look at the results and watch the races again, it is clear that it is a track that really suits the Ninja ZX-10R, thanks to the stability of the bike in the last sector and the agility and handling of the KRT ZX-10R in the first sector. I expect to be strong but we do not know how strong we can be until Saturday qualifying, after we have completed our preparations for the race. Being a home race does not change how I approach the weekend, or how I ride. I do find it bizarre how some guys at home find that X-factor, but we just treat it like another race. I have a lot of family coming over from Ireland and a lot of my British fans have been telling me on social media that they are coming, so it is going to be amazing to come home and see all my supporters. Especially after the run I have. I would say that the UK is where I have most of my fanbase, so hopefully I can meet a lot of people and make them all proud.”

Tom Sykes: “I’m looking forward to Donington because as the season has progressed I have managed to make myself more comfortable with this year’s regulations. So much so that we set a new lap record in Imola, at a place I did not expect to do that. We are definitely getting there now and I am looking for a setting that allows me to do that kind of lap time, but for 20 laps. We still miss a little bit but this is just purely from the balance between the bike and me. I am really looking forward to improving that and then we can be very consistent for the races. There is no reason why we can’t be. The rules have changed for everybody and Kawasaki is doing a great job, reacting fast to the rule changes and they have made things happen quickly. If we have been fast in previous events we can also be fast at Donington. It’s a track where we have had good results in the past so hopefully, after the improvements in Imola, we can aim to do something similar. At your home race you see a lot of familiar faces from your racing history, and you get to see more family and friends. We have had special memories at Donington in the last two years and it would be nice after the difficulty of the start of the season to feel that kind of magic again.”