Tom Sykes - Photo Credit: Kawasaki
Tom Sykes is targeting another consistent weekend at Miller Motorsports Park to keep himself in the World Superbike Championship fight. The Yorkshireman heads to the United States just five points behind Max Biaggi after back-to-back podiums at Donington two weeks ago and believes he has a bike capable of building on that in Salt Lake City.
“I am really looking forward to going to Miller because Salt Lake is a beautiful part of the world, so the atmosphere and scene is set for me already. Miller has not been a spectacular venue for me in the past but it has also not been too bad. This year, with the Ninja ZX-10R the way it is, we have come a long way with the bike and I am hoping we can go there and start afresh. I hope we will be able to compete and we have been fairly consistent this year. Now we are only five points off the lead, which is really promising. There is a bit of pressure going into Salt Lake, just to keep the performance up, but the only pressure is from myself. I do not want to let myself down. Last time out Donington was a little bit of a challenge for us so it was good to come away with a pole position and two third places. My main goal is, like always, to get two top four or top five positions and keep those points coming in.”
With Joan Lascorz out injured, Loris Baz will deputise once again on the second Kawasaki ZX-10R and the French teenager is targeting a repeat of his Donington performance where he scored his first world championship points.
“I do not feel any pressure or have any specific objective for Miller so I will go there just the same as in Donington. I do not know the track there but I do not see that as a very big problem. I will just enjoy it and we will see what happens. If I can do what I did at Donington, scoring points and being less than a second per lap from the first riders, then that would be perfect. I will just be learning the bike and going step-by-step again. Maybe we will try some new things with the bike settings at Miller, simply because I am really tall, so I have to sit quite far back on the bike. Because of that the geometry of the bike changes a little. Nothing big to try because the base setting of the bike is already really good. I have a good feeling with my crew chief Pere Riba and all the mechanics and for a first race together at Donington I think we all worked together very well.”
