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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

6 juillet 2019

Front Row For Mahias With Okubo Seventh

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) will start Sunday’s WorldSSP race from second place on the grid after a strong performance in Superpole qualifying. In tricky damp track conditions Hikari Okubo was seventh. 

After starting the recent Misano race from pole position and then finishing on the podium, Mahias once again turned confidence into performance this weekend, going second on the grid after setting only two full laps in Superpole’s wet and changeable conditions.
 
Mahias has earned 21 front row starts in his career now, as he chases a first race win for Kawasaki in Sunday’s 20-lap race.
 
After finding set-up difficulties in the hot conditions that graced the track on Friday, Okubo also had to overcome a less than perfect wet weather set-up this morning. Good work from rider and team saw him end up posting competitive times in Superpole, to only just miss out on a second row starting position.
 
Weather conditions at the 4.023km long circuit in England are expected to be dry again for Sunday’s final race of the season, before the long summer break begins.
 
Lucas Mahias stated: “It is a good starting position for me and Kawasaki for the race tomorrow. I am a little bit frustrated because of the rain today because I only rode two laps this morning, and then the same this afternoon in Superpole. It was a strange qualification but that game is finished. Yesterday I worked on a long race simulation and my rhythm was not so bad so I am confident for tomorrow. I hope for an even better result than Misano and the first victory of the season.”
 
Hikari Okubo, stated: “I pushed hard in Superpole but I am not so happy with a third row start. The time gap is not big to the front row, only 0.2 seconds, and we enjoyed a better feeling this afternoon than we had yesterday and this morning. Now we moving forward and we are thinking about our settings for warm-up on Sunday. From seventh on the grid it is possible to get to the podium so that is my aim for tomorrow.”
 
Ayrton Badovini (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) was a confident sixth in Superpole and Kyle Smith (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) was not far behind in tenth place.
 
Rob Hartog (Team Hartog – Against Cancer Kawasaki) was 16th, Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team Kawasaki) 20th and Nacho Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) 21st. Gaetan Matern (Flembbo Leader Team Kawasaki) was 27th.
 
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