Kawasaki World Superbike Team rider Broc Parkes recorded 14th in race two at Donington as a difficult race weekend finally delivered a couple of points for the team’s great efforts. Parkes’ team-mate Jamie Hacking was out of the top 15 in race one, and was unfortunate to fall in the second 23-lap contest, running of track, toppling over in the sand on lap two and being unable to restart.
Parkes battled in the turns at Donington, and despite some tire choice issues in race two he came good in a multiple rider battle for the last points. The Aussie rider is 18th in the standings, on 27 points after nine of 14 events.
Hacking, replacing injured team regular Makoto Tamada once again, was racing at home in some regards as he was born in the UK and still has dual citizenship. His characteristic grit shone through in race one, going from 30th and last to 18th. Local wild card rider Simon Andrews used his track knowledge to score a top ten in race two, on his MSS Ninja ZX-10R.
After a test at Imola on July 15th and 16th, the team will go to Brno on July 24-26 for round ten of the series.
Broc Parkes: “We got some points at the end. The first race we got a really bad start but a good pace, and came from 29th to 18th. It was a difficult weekend chassis wise and we haven’t been able to find a set-up on the bike that handled well. Second race we had a much better start but in the middle it started jumping out of gear, selecting neutrals, coming in and out. I think I chose the wrong tire for race two compared to race one, because the lap times were not quite as good. That was just because of the slight change in track temperature, I think.”
Jamie Hacking: “In race one I wasn’t comfortable starting that far back after seeing how crazy the starts are, so I backed off a bit and was last away. I played catch up as far as I could and then I had really bad arm pump from hanging on so hard. I struggled from then on. We had some discussions about doing the approach to Coppice a different way in race two, and I gave it a try and the bike ran off the racetrack into the gravel trap. I had it pretty much saved but it finally spun out and toppled over.”
Lascorz Second In The Race And Fourth In The Points
During a warm and eventually sunny raceday at Donington, Joan Lascorz rode to a hard-fought and well-deserved second place in the 22-lap Supersport race. The Spanish rider added to his second place finish from Monza with his second 20-point score of the year, finishing five seconds from race winner Cal Crutchlow.
Lascorz had been in the running for a podium position in characteristically aggressive style, taking the lead for the first three laps until Crutchlow passed by. He held on for second in fine style, finishing almost ten seconds ahead of third place rider, Garry McCoy.
The early laps promised two top six positions for the Kawasaki Provec Motocard.com squad, as Katsuaki Fujiwara was on a good pace at the sharp end of the action, but a collision with another rider stopped him in his tracks when both crashed out early on.
Both Joan and Katsuaki were enthused by the increasing capabilities of their Ninja ZX-6R machines at this meeting, and expect even more advances for the next round at Brno, on July 26.
Joan Lascorz: “That equalled my best result this year, and the machine is working very well now, even better than Misano, so big congratulations to all the team. Halfway through the race Cal upped his pace a little bit and I was not able to go with him, so I had to settle for second place, but I am very happy anyway.”
Katsuaki Fujiwara: “I was behind Aitchison when we were going downhill into the Old Hairpin then he had a highside and went a bit loose, so I passed him. Then his bike gripped again and it jumped into my path. It was really easy to follow McCoy and he made a podium finish. So only bad luck today, the bike was very good and we are much more consistent with it now. It is all going forward, so Brno should be a good one for us again.”
