PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse's Regis Laconi (Photo: Kawasaki Racing) » More Photos

TAMADA AND LACONI MAKE REAL PROGRESS

PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse riders Makoto Tamada and Régis Laconi found their Ninja ZX-10R machinery generally well-suited to the Monza circuit in qualifying.

Earlier today Laconi was second fastest going into Superpole and Tamada was right on the pace on the opening day.

Superpole qualifying was not so kind to either rider, with Laconi eventually 11th fastest, losing nine places compared to his earlier superb performance. Tamada was fourth fastest on day one, tenth quickest on day two, then 14th after Superpole.

Laconi will now start on the third row of the grid; Tamada on row four, ahead of Jakub Smrz and Gregorio Lavilla.

Each Kawasaki rider is ready for the challenge ahead on raceday, after final checks and adjustments in morning warm-up. The specter of at least some wet weather cannot be ruled out for raceday, despite the first two days being run in glorious spring sunshine.

Regis Laconi: “Compared to this morning the bike has improved and I feel more confident. The strange thing is that I used a qualifying tire but didn’t improve my time, because the grip didn’t seem to increase. I made a good fast lap in Superpole but I’m still more than a second from the leading rider. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. I heard it could be raining, and I usually don’t dislike riding in the wet, but in this case I would prefer a dry track. It is too dangerous considering the speeds we reach here.”

Makoto Tamada: “During the morning session today I wanted to use certain tires, but we preferred not to use them and keep them for later. At the end of the session I felt it difficult to increase my speed. The engine is not performing quite the way we thought in some areas and we had a small problem during the afternoon session. I’m annoyed that I couldn’t maintain yesterday’s performance. I know tomorrow will be better and we’ll solve everything. I hope it won’t rain as this track will become very dangerous for all the riders if it does.”