World Superbike Championship - Round 7 - Aragon, Spain - 19th June 2011High Fives For Kawasaki At Aragon

The Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team recorded their strongest finish of the season when round seven of the World Superbike Championship took place at Aragon in Spain at the weekend.

Aboard the Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10Rs, Joan Lascorz celebrated the first race meeting at his home circuit with a seventh and a fifth place, his best combined points score of the season so far, whereas British rider Tom Sykes, who started from fifth place on the grid, took fifth position in race one before sliding off in the second race.

Aussie Chris Vermeulen also found his first race meeting at the impressive new facility of Motorland Aragon a game of two contrasting halves. He scored 12th in race one despite losing many places in the early laps before battling to 14th and more important points in race two.

In the championship going into the next round at Brno in three weeks' time, Sykes is 13th, Lascorz 14th and only three points behind, with Vermeulen holding 19th.

Tom Sykes: "Again there are some positives in that I have been in the top five all weekend. In race one, I came home fifth and in race two I went down but we were still racing in a good position. We came away with good levels of performance during a dry weekend which is another big positive. We will do the test in Aragon now to be ready for the Brno race and we have a lot to test. Brno is a fantastic circuit that I love and hopefully the new Ninja ZX-10R will work well there as well."

Joan Lascorz: "I was fifth in race two and it was the same position I took at Donington but I was much closer to the top positions here. We had some laps of testing before but not many so this was really a new circuit for me in qualifying, so we did a good job. My crew chief gave me a good setting for the second race, and persuaded me not to go for the softer rear tyre, so I used the same B tyre in each race. It was a good decision in race two. We were only five seconds from the podium in race two, and it was not only me, Tom was also very fast this weekend."

Chris Vermeulen: "In race one, I got quite a good start but then was boxed in on the first lap and I actually went back to last place. But I passed quite a few of them and our pace was quite good in the middle of the race, the same as that of the fifth to seventh place guys. I managed to get up to 12th in the last couple of laps but in race two our set-up and tyre choice was exactly the same and didn't work as well in the hot conditions."

Paul Bird: "That's the second weekend running we have had a couple of decent results so it feels at long last like we are making progress. All of the riders rode well and the team did a great job so it's important we kick on from here and continue this momentum into Brno next month."

Results - Race One1, M Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team)2, M Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)3, L Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)4, E Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team)5, T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)6, N Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia)7, J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team)8, A Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team)9, L Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)10, T Corser (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)}12, C Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team)Results - Race Two1, M Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)2, M Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team)3, C Checa (Althea Racing)4, M Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare)5, J Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team)6, E Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team)7, N Haga (PATA Racing Team Aprilia)8, L Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team)9, L Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)10, A Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team)14, C Vermeulen (Kawasaki Racing Team)DNF T Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team)Championship Standings (After round 7)1, C Checa 261pts2, M Biaggi 2183, M Melandri 1954, E Laverty 1465, L Camier 1256, L Haslam 1207, M Fabrizio 1088, J Rea 949, N Haga 8910, A Badovini 8613, T Sykes 7614, J Lascorz 7319, C Vermeulen 14