Winter Tests Continue For KRT Riders The third winter test for the Kawasaki Racing Team duo of Tom Sykes and Loris Baz gets underway on 14 November at Motorland Aragon in Spain, with each rider out to continue their good recent progress. At the two previous test sessions after the completion of the 2012 season, at Motorland and then more recently in Valencia, the team worked well with the new 17-inch tyres which will become the regulation size for the 2013 season. This aspect of the workload will continue at Aragon once more and new electronics advances are also due to be tried out, aimed at strengthening what is already a highly positive element in the overall makeup of the official Ninja ZX-10R SBK racebike. Sykes was fastest of all at the Motorland tests in October, finding himself in a familiar situation given his amazing abilities in SBK Superpole competitions. So far in testing both race pace evaluations and one-off lap times have been first class and the entire KRT team will be out to improve both these elements of performance. For Loris Baz a return to Aragon will see him on familiar asphalt but he will be much fitter than his previous run-out at the Spanish circuit, as he was still carrying the effects of injury from a big crash in last year’s final round. Baz had an impressive 2012 experience after he was drafted into the team mid-season and his abilities as a test rider are improving every time the teenager gets on his Ninja ZX-10R. The Aragon tests will take place over two days, 14 and 15 November. After that there will be a two-day track outing at Jerez (26 and 27 November) before the winter test ban kicks in during December and the first half of January. Tom Sykes: “I am all ready to go testing again. I am not getting much time to mess about at home and get my DIY work finished at my house but I am getting to ride my Ninja ZX-10R again, which is always a very positive thing. We are going to Motorland, which is a circuit we have a good reference data from. We have some quite key things to test. Those things should help us a lot. We have two days on track and I hope we get good weather for all of it so we can work in consistent conditions.” Loris Baz: “Another test at Aragon so I think we are going to know the track quite well! We will work in the same good direction we found in the two recent tests, just trying out all the bike set-ups we have to choose from, going step-by-step. As always we will not just be looking at the lap times, we will be concentrating on the feeling and the pace. I think it should be a good test and then we will go to Jerez, a new track with the bike, so that is going to be fun.” Team Manager Guim Roda: “At the next test at Motorland Aragon we will continue working on our new 2013 bikes. We will work exclusively with the new tyre sizes and will introduce some new electronic improvements. As always will continue developing the suspension package and try to give more feedback to KHI in Japan to assist them in developing the bike for next January’s tests. Tom is so strong and we need to keep him learning day-by-day to arrive at the first race in Australia in the most competitive way possible. Loris is growing up in a good way as an SBK racer and we are trying to teach him in one year what a normal rider could take three years to learn. We will also start to make some improvements on the way of working inside the team to be even more competitive. We are so excited to be working for a successful 2013 season already.”