Difficult Friday for Kawasaki team

The Kawasaki riders reflect on a tough first day of free practice at Phillip Island which left them at the bottom of the timesheets.

John Hopkins - sixteenth

`Phillip Island requires something of a compromise with the set-up of the bike, as it needs to be easy to turn at high-speed, but then it also has to be stable through the sweeping turns where you´re on the edge of the tyre for a long time. Today we got it a bit wrong and it was difficult to find traction exiting the turns this morning. We made some improvements during the session, but the rain in the afternoon meant we weren´t able to progress any further. Although we also had some problems with rear grip in the wet this afternoon, I´m happy that we know exactly what we need to change for tomorrow, regardless of whether it turns out wet or dry.´

Anthony West - seventeenth

`We had the same problems we´ve had all season this morning, where the bike just wants to spin up as soon as you touch the throttle exiting the corner. It was frustrating, because I was losing so much time just on acceleration out of the turn, especially exiting the left-hander onto the main straight, where it´s so important to carry as much speed as possible. This afternoon we had similar problems, but I was also struggling with the stability under braking, as the bike felt like it wanted to run on at the slower corners. It´s frustrating, because normally I can count on being much further up the timesheet when it´s wet, but it just wasn´t possible today because of the issues with the bike. Having said that, with the two different sessions today, we´re pretty fixed on how to improve the bike for tomorrow, whatever the weather might throw at us.´