Successful Final Test For Sofuoglu And Krummenacher

2016-02-23 17:40
The combination of reigning FIM Supersport World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and his new 2016 team-mate Randy Krummenacher was a strong one during the final pre-season test at Phillip Island in Australia. Krummenacher, an experienced Moto2 rider but a WSS rookie, was fastest over the two days and Sofuoglu went second quickest on the timesheets.


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In all, the WSS riders had four long sessions to make their final pre-season preparations for a new era in this category of racing. New technical regulations mean more limits have been imposed in the electronics packages on the 2016 specification Supersport race machines, which will ensure that the class will be even more streetbike-focused.
Working from the strong base of the roadgoing Ninja ZX-6R the top Kawasaki team has made consistent race set-up improvements over the winter months, including a swap of suspension supplier.
On the eve of the new season both Puccetti Racing competitors are ready for the new look two-part Superpole competition, to be held on Saturdays. There will still be a single race on Sundays, with the scheduled 18-lap event at PI taking place on 28th February.
Randy Krummenacher stated: “It was a hard day today and we tried many, many things. We have a lot of data and now we just need to get everything clear for the first practice session on Friday. We have to sort out a few things but in general this test was very positive. For sure yesterday was a bit better than today but we will keep on working. I am still learning a lot and if the conditions change maybe I cannot adapt as quickly as Kenan right now. I just need to learn a bit more, to understand the conditions and push in the right direction.”

Kenan Sofuoglu stated: “As always I am working for the race and in these two days of testing I used old tyres. I did one long run and I was very fast on used tyres. This is a positive thing and today we worked a lot on the bike set-up. Because we have new suspension for 2016 we tried some new material again and we got a very good improvement in the braking area, and some improvement in grip. In bad conditions we made good improvements in the lap time so if the conditions are good we should be very fast. Now we are just waiting for Friday morning and the first session.”

Other notable Kawasaki riders in the Supersport World Championship in 2016 come from the Go Eleven team, in the shape of Christian Gamarino and Ondrej Jezek. Zulfahmi Khairuddin and Nacho Calero from the Orelac Racing VerdNatura squad and Lachlan Epis from the Response RE Team are also ambitious Kawasaki competitors in 2016.

Source: Kawasaki Racing Team

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