MCNEWS.COM.AU - The ultimate in motorcycle news MotoGP 2005 - Phillip Island - Australian Support Events
Team Report - Kawasaki
October 16th, 2005

 MCNEWS.COM.AU - The ultimate in motorcycle news

Although the MotoGP support race points for Superbikes and SuperSports are not counted in the Australian Superbike Championship, all racers are aware of the high profile audience when they strut their stuff on the track during the Grand Prix. In fact the level of presentation of riders and their teams reaches new highs at this meeting and this year was a perfect showcase for Australian race teams and the Kawasaki Racing Team in particular.

Superbike – 3rd overall
Ninja ZX-10R rider Jamie Stauffer very much enjoyed his weekend with two thirds and a fifth for third overall.

“I didn’t think we got enough practice and qualifying time, but somehow we managed to get the bike set-up well and qualified third – a front row start is vital here at Phillip Island. Unfortunately I couldn’t get second gear after getting a great start in the first race and I rolled off and put my hand up. Then I managed to get gears and set off after the field. I think I was 21st after the first lap, but managed to carve through to finish fifth. We weren’t sure at the time what the problem was so we elected to use the spare bike for the next two races on the Saturday.

“In the second race I got a great start and followed my brother Dan for the first lap then slipstreamed past him on the straight. But both Hondas slipstreamed me and I went from first to third! The trouble was I was on the spare which has different engine settings – it has more bottom end power but is not quite as powerful up top – which is what you need here at the Island. Anyway, the Hondas and I broke away from the rest and even on the spare I could stay with them so it’s great news for the last round here next month.

“The third race was really interesting. I got a poor start and couldn’t believe it when (Anthony) Gobert jumped the start to go into the lead from way down the grid. The Hondas got past him but I got held up by Goey and my brother for a few laps. Once I got into third I started pegging back the leaders but I couldn’t overtake them on the straight because I was using a used rear tyre and couldn’t quite get the drive to slipstream past them. Anyway, third overall was pretty good with the spare, so we’re in great shape for the final round.”

Supersport – 3rd overall
Josh Waters also enjoyed success on the weekend with two seconds a fifth to his credit finishing just three points down on first place.
“Qualifying started poorly for me, but we made really good progress through the qualifying gaining two whole seconds by the end. I qualified fifth which was OK, but I’m sure I can do better as the bike is now really good as we proved in the first race where I finished second. It was a cliff hanger though, with lots of barging and bashing so I just stayed out of trouble and zapped people down the straight.

“The second race wasn’t as good for me, I think the rough and tumbles of the first one caused me to back off a little bit too much and I wound up a couple of seconds down after two laps. So I put my head down and pulled back a tenth per lap on the leaders but it wasn’t quite enough and I finished fifth which was disappointing.”
“My best race of the weekend was the third one – everyone in the lead group swapped places on almost every lap, at one stage I went from fifth to first down the straight and them down to fifth and back to second all in a few laps – it was great fun. I finished second again which was bit frustrating as I know the bike and I can win so that’s what we’re aiming for at the final round of the Australian Superbike championship.”

The Kawasaki Racing Team’s Senior Teams Co-ordinator, Scott Breedin, was brief and to the point about the team’s successes over the weekend.

“From a team perspective we used the weekend as a test event for the final round of the championship on November 13th.

“Consequently Jamie and Josh went about testing some tyres and chassis settings for the last round. Both riders came away from the event quite happy with the bike settings overall. The team still has some fine tuning to do but the direction we are working in with the 600 and the 10-R is proving very successful and the team is happy with the results so far.

“However we will be continuing to work on our engine and chassis settings in hope of gaining even further performance from our team machines at the final round. Both Jamie and Josh rode extremely well, unfortunately Jamie had a chain problem at the start of race one but besides this occurrence all the bikes performed faultlessly.”

 
 

2005 Australian Superbike Championship
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