Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes2014 Portimao SBK TestJust before the extended-summer break in 2014 World Superbike, a few teams participated in a two-day official DWO (Dorna World Superbike Organization) test at Portimao’s Autodromo International do Algarve.
The man who led the way both days was no surprise – the reigning World SBK Champion Tom Sykes. The Kawasaki Racing ZX-10R pilot, along with teammate Loris Baz who finished third fastest, worked on tuning the Ninja. The same couldn’t be said of the Kawasaki Racing Team EVO counterpart, though. David Salom worked on developing new parts for next year’s Kawasaki machine.The current-points leader Sykes put in a fastest lap of 1:42.719 during the morning session. The next fastest rider was Aprilia Racing Team’s Sylvain Guintoli.The Frenchman and his teammate Marco Melandri – who finished fourth quickest – both crashed, but walked away unharmed. Guintoli’s luck worsened during the final moments of Tuesday’s morning session. He lost the rear on his RSV4, and crashed hard; this ended his Tuesday practice.The quickest Ducati 1199 Panigale pilot was Davide Giugliano. The Italian, along with Ducati Superbike teammate Chaz Davies, tested new Pirelli front and rear tires, with the team able to identify some interesting solutions. In addition, the riders tried some new suspension settings and a new anti-wheelie setting, something that both Davies and Giugliano were pleased with.Though he missed the last round at Laguna Seca due to injuries sustained at Portimao World SBK, MV Agusta Reparto Corse’s Claudio Corti returned to action during the test, lapping the Portuguese circuit 93 times over both days.Other EVO riders Alessandro Andreozzi (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) and Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) made good use of the track time available to further gel with their EVO ZX-10R machines.2014 World Superbike Official DWO Test from Portimao: 1. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’42.719 2. Guintoli S. (FRA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’42.954 3. Baz L. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’43.110 4. Melandri M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’43.315 5. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’43.592 6. Davies C. (GBR) Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’43.742 7. Corti C. (ITA) MV Agusta F4 RR 1’44.485 8. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 1’44.487 9. Andreozzi A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 1’44.924 10. Guarnoni J. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 1’45.109
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Motos and Friends, the weekly podcast brought to you by Ultimate Motorcycling. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
Motos and Friends is brought to you by Yamaha. You can check out the amazing YZF-R7 at your local Yamaha dealer, or of course at YamahaMotorsports.com. The YZF-R7 is an amazing supersport machine that is comfortable too!
In this week’s first segment, Editor Don Williams takes the smallest BMW ADV bike on an urban adventure in Los Angeles. The BMW G 310 GS is a full size motorcycle with a modest engine, so of course we wonder if it is a little too underpowered and might struggle. Don put it through its paces and gives us his take.
In the second segment, Neale Bayly and Kiran Ridley have returned from the Ukraine to Paris where Kiran is based.
Kiran is an award winning photojournalist, and as an accomplished documentarian, he has covered stories as diverse as drug smuggling around the Mexican border, to the devastation of the Australian Bush Fires, to the tragedy of the Mediterranean migration crisis. Neale and Kiran reminisce about their motorcycle adventure in the Ukraine, and their observations and experiences with the incredibly resilient people of Ukraine, who have been put through such brutal hardship.
