Sykes aims to close the gap at Misano

Having proven his ability to compete for either first or second place at every round of the campaign Rea will start the races at Misano with the knowledge that he won both 2016 WorldSBK races there, with his teammate Sykes just behind each time.

In all, Rea has recorded four previous wins at Misano and Sykes three. Between them they have won all six of the most recent races at the 4.226km long circuit, which is located near the Adriatic coast of Italy.

After Sykes and Rea each won races at Donington Park recently Kawasaki reached the important landmark of 100 race wins in WorldSBK.

After a successful test at Misano recently both KRT riders share the goal of adding to that overall winning total this weekend.

After a small change in the regular European weekend schedule at Donington last time out the Misano event will revert to its more usual format, with WorldSBK races at 13.00 on Saturday 17th June and Sunday 18th June.

The 2013 world champion Sykes said: “We have been coming closer to where we want to be and at Donington we had a great performance, despite not winning race two.

“In race one we did what we had to do, and had good speed.

“In race two I got boxed in and it was not until lap seven that I got through. From then on my speed was really good.

“I was very disappointed to miss out but luckily we moved straight on to the Misano tests.

“The boys kept working hard and I have to say I left the tests very happy, with a lot of information and mileage done.

“Considering my previous physical condition I was very happy to do 100 laps on day one of the tests and just over 50 on day two.

“Finally, I feel I am going to Misano ready to step-up my game and enjoy it more, focusing on getting more points and overall performance.”