Motourage

Broc Parkes rode a perfect race at Misano yesterday to take his first World Supersport victory for Kawasaki and take the team’s first race win of the season. Parkes also seized the lead in the Riders’ Championship standings.

Having qualified fourth, Parkes was in line for a good result, and his first win in Kawasaki colors came at one of his favorite circuits, after making a change to the machine setup that worked well in real race conditions over all 22 laps.
Broc now leads the championship by five points from Chaz Davies, who led the race for a time, before Parkes swept past on lap five.

David Salom almost joined Parkes on the podium at Misano, finishing fourth, less than half a second from his teammate. He was third early on but dropped to sixth before rallying in the later stages and passing another rider on the last lap to go into the top four. Salom is fifth in the championship, one point out of fourth place.

The next round at Aragon is in Salom’s home country of Spain, where he can count on some solid support from the crowd.

Broc Parkes:
“Unreal to win. It felt really good and I got a good start from fourth place on the grid. I was really concerned how the set-up would be for the race, because we made quite a big change for the start, so we did not know exactly where we were. It was a little bit of a gamble but it paid off in the end. I got out in front, got to the lead and looked back to see who was behind me. I could see he was not a championship contender, so I had to think about points as well. But I wanted a win, I really wanted to win so much, and at the end we took it. I could see some other guys were coming, but I just had to stay relaxed and control the race. First Kawasaki win for me and it feels good, and a great job from all the team.”

David Salom:
“Not a bad race to finish in fourth position, it’s good, and it was a strong race for the championship. However, I was really looking for a podium. It was not possible in this race because of a back marker, as it was not possible to pass him at the right time. But I had a good race with Sam Lowes and I am happy for the team because they did a good job this weekend.”

2nd Fabien Foret, 1st Chaz Davies, 3rd Broc Parkes

Kawasaki Provec Racing‘s World Supersport riders Broc Parkes and David Salom overcame several obstacles at Assen to record strong finishes on race day, with Parkes third and Salom fifth in a twice-restarted and eventually shortened race.

Parks eventually took his second podium of the year and now sits three points from the top, in second place overall, as points leader Luca Scassa crashed out of a race won by his teammate Chaz Davies.

Salom is now fifth overall in the points, only 16 from the leader, as he continues his push to take his first podium score of 2011.

Massimo Roccoli, from the Kawasaki Lorenzini by Leoni Team, was sixth today and moved to seventh in the standings. His team-mate Vittorio Iannuzzo fell but is still inside the top 12 championship positions.

Broc Parkes
“I was a little bit fortunate that some other riders went out but I was unlucky to be bumped wide in the first turn, so it was just luck coming back my way. I am second in the championship and only three points from first, so it is like the season just started again. We have learned some things to take from this weekend to Monza and the team is always working on new things, so we can look forward to that. We improved the bike every day here and I had the pace so we scored a podium and got some good points again.”

David Salom
“A very confusing day but a good race. My start was good the first time but it did not count and in the second and third starts it was no good. I had some work to do to. I think I was in about 14th place in the first lap of the real race but when I got behind Broc he passed rider after rider and I got up to fifth place. My lap times were good and a top five was not so bad. We overcame some problems that we had in practice and I was happy to be able to make a pass on another rider in the last corner to make it into the top five.”

The Hannspree World Superbike Championship moves into the final stages when round twelve of the fourteen round series heads for the legendary Imola circuit in Italy this forthcoming weekend (September 25 – 27).

Paul Bird Motorsport's Broc Parkes

After a disappointing weekend in Germany last time out which saw both Paul Bird Motorsport riders, Broc Parkes and Makoto Tamada, involved in an opening corner accident, which ruled the Japanese rider out of the meeting with concussion and left Australian Parkes to race his spare machine, both are hoping for a strong showing at Imola.

Makoto Tamada

27-year-old Parkes has a good record at the Italian track and is confident of success whereas 32-year-old Tamada is looking to salvage something from a disastrous, injury-ridden season aboard the www.supercasino.com, Vent-Axia, Kick Energy and Henleys-backed Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team Ninja ZX-10Rs.

Meanwhile, team boss Paul Bird will be hoping he can bring some silverware of his own to the team in the final two rounds of the World Rally Championship.

For the Salou-based Rally de Espagne on October 2/4th and Rally GB which starts in Cardiff some three weeks later, the Cumbrian has been drafted into the official Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team alongside Argentine driver Federico Villagra whereby he will drive a works Ford Focus WRC as one of the ten ‘A’ seeded drivers.

Broc Parkes:  “I’m looking forward to the Imola race as I have had podiums in WSS there before and also a couple of top tens in WSB. I really enjoy the circuit and it has a great atmosphere. Nurburgring was a tough weekend after I was taken out in the first race and I was lucky not to break any bones, but I had skin taken off my bottom which made it uncomfortable to ride but I’m feeling good now and ready to race. For Imola, we have some more things to try on the bike so I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes. Each race we seem to be making progress and I would really like to be back in the top ten in Imola.”

Makoto Tamada:  “The test went well earlier in the season at Imola and I am pretty confident about the circuit. We were still relatively behind the leaders in terms of lap times at the test, but the bike feeling has improved significantly since then and I was confident on the race set-up at Nurburgring but unfortunately the crash in race one took me out of both races. I have no significant injury and my broken finger from Brno is healed so I am 100% fit for Imola. If the bike works well as it did in Brno and Nurburgring, the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R should finish in an easy top ten. I guess it depends on me if we can finish in the top five, or even on the podium.”