2014 testing continues for Sykes and Baz at Jerez
Tom Sykes and Loris Baz were both out on track for a two-day testing session at Jerez between 30 and 31 October, working with their crews on machine developments for their attack on the 2014 season. In fair weather conditions the recently crowned SBK world champion Sykes completed around 160 laps of the intense Jerez circuit on his Ninja ZX-10R. This was the second time he has tested in readiness for the coming season since his 2013 World Championship win on Sunday 20th October.
Baz continued to regain fitness and pace after a long layoff due to injury, with Loris also having tested shortly after the end of the season, again at Jerez. Concentrating his efforts on machine set-up over both days, Baz experienced a slow speed get-off this morning. After great set-up work from his team constant improvements were found from then on, with the Frenchman ending the tests happy and ready to ride again at Motorland Aragon in two weeks' time.
Great weather conditions on each day allowed the whole KRT team to get through the programme of planned work. Both riders also posted strong lap times despite running race tyres and working on race set-ups on the Ninja ZX-10R, which ran in the now traditional black and white winter tests colours. Tom set a best lap of 1'40.4 while Loris posted a 1'41.2.
Tom Sykes: "This two-day test has been very good and I happy with the way it has gone. We have improved the feel of the Ninja ZX-10R and I am definitely much more comfortable with it. I am leaving the tests in very good spirits because we completed lots of laps and got a lot of work done. We have definitely done our fair share of testing! I am happy and motivated. Lap times have not been our focus but we have been running some very good lap times here on race tyres. It has been very positive, so I will travel back home a happy man."
Loris Baz: "This was quite a big test for me although I did not do as many laps as Tom. I wanted to take care with my back because it is still not quite 100% yet. It went really well and the weather gave us some really good conditions to work in. I also like the track so it is always good to ride here. This morning I had a very slow crash, but I made some good progress this afternoon because we tried good things in many areas. We made a big step compared to last year here and I am very confident for the next tests - and we have quite a few tests to do this winter!"
