Less than one week after Shinya Nakano claimed a career best result with second place in the Dutch TT the Kawasaki Racing Team are back in action, having crossed the North Sea from Holland to England for this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Donington Park. The British Grand Prix marks the halfway point in this year’s 17 round MotoGP World Championship, and it is an important race for both Kawasaki riders. Nakano heads for Donington determined to carry the momentum from his impressive Assen result into the second half of the season, but to do that he knows that he must secure another strong result around the 4.023 km Donington Park circuit this weekend. Nakano has finished on the 250cc podium at Donington Park in the past, but the 28-year-old Japanese rider doesn’t rate the East Midlands circuit as one of his favourites, nor as a circuit that has particularly suited the characteristics of Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-RR in the past. This weekend Nakano will benefit from a new exhaust system on his Ninja ZX-RR, as well as tyres developed by Bridgestone specifically for the Donington Park circuit. Together with the advances made with set-up during the Dutch TT, these additional changes mean that the Japanese rider heads into this weekend’s event confident of a strong performance. Nakano’s Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet, arrives in Donington determined to kick-start what he feels has, so far, been a disappointing rookie season in the premier MotoGP class. The 25-year-old Frenchman has impressed during practice and qualifying at every round, but has been unable to translate this into strong race performances for a number of reasons. A good result in Sunday’s 30-lap British Grand Prix would be a big confidence boost for de Puniet, and the perfect start to the second half of his rookie season. Shinya Nakano: #56 “There is nothing like a good result for building confidence, so after Assen my confidence going into this weekend at Donington Park is high. But, this is not only because of the second place in the Dutch TT; we made some advances with chassis set-up and the balance of our Ninja ZX-RR at Assen, which I know will stand us in good stead for the British Grand Prix this weekend. Also, we will have a new exhaust pipe here, which has been designed by Kawasaki to address some of the issues we’ve had in recent races, and I know that Bridgestone have brought something new for us to try here. At Donington Park you need a bike that is set-up to be stable on the brakes, but also able to accelerate quickly out of the slower corners, like the Fogarty Esses and the Melbourne Loop. With the progress we made at Assen, I think we will have a competitive package in the Ninja ZX-RR for this track, but I guess the proof will come in free practice on Friday.” Randy de Puniet: #17 “On the 250cc machine I was not such a big fan of the Donington Park circuit, but this will be my first time here on the Ninja ZX-RR, and there’s a good chance that the circuit will look very different at the higher speeds possible on the MotoGP bike. This weekend marks the halfway point in the championship, and after a disappointing start to the season in terms of race results, I need to put in a strong performance in Sunday’s race to carry us into the second half of the year on a hIgh. On the whole, we’ve been fast in practice and qualifying at each round this year, but so far I’ve been unable to translate this into race results. This weekend that needs to change. Despite the fact that our results in the last two races were not what we were hoping for, I have a good feeling on the bike and I’m confident that, with a little better luck that we’ve had recently, the race results will come. Obviously, my aim is that the improvement will start this weekend at Donington.”