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WSBK Kyalami: Honda riders prepare to race under african skies

In SBK

13 maggio 2009

Kyalami returns to the motorcycle World Championship scene this weekend when the South African circuit hosts the sixth rounds of the World Superbike and World Supersport Championships. The last time Kyalami was on the calendar was in 2002, and this will be the sixth time that Kyalami has hosted a WSB event.

There have been three previous Honda race wins in the Superbike class at the venue and the Honda teams are focussed on improving on that. The data gleaned from the rewarding WSB post-season winter test session at the demanding track will be of immense value when race practice begins on Friday.

A less than perfect Superpole session in the previous Monza round left Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing Honda CBR1000RR) with a lot to do on raceday and with many of his key rivals having tested at Kyalami in the winter months he will need to make the best of qualifying to improve on his season total of three podiums so far. He is now fourth in the championship chase, on 103 points.

Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda CBR600RR) is a strong second in the World Supersport championship standings, and having taken two wins so far this season his aim for Kyalami is clear; to win again and peg back his 18-point disadvantage to series leader Cal Crutchlow.

The 4.263km Kyalami circuit, located on the outskirts of the Johannesburg Metropolis, is one of the slower tracks on the calendar and has a very short 470 metre front straight. There are, however, some very high speed cornering sections and a great degree of rise and fall in gradient as the lap unfolds.

Kyalami is also situated at high altitude, which robs all machines of significant amounts of top end power. In winter testing the best lap times were in the sub 1’40 second region, but a change to the final chicane since then will introduce one unknown element for all the riders. The Supersport class will now have two on-track session on Friday at Kyalami, not one as in previous rounds.

Ten Kate Honda Superbike riders, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Ten Kate Racing Honda CBR1000RR), Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) and Carlos Checa (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR) all tested at Kyalami last December.

Rea is eighth overall, Kiyonari moved into tenth after his double podium finish at Monza. Checa is now 12th. After a difficult Monza weekend, Tommy Hill (Honda Althea CBR1000RR) is working to promote himself in the rankings, but Vittorio Iannuzzo (Squadra Corse Italia Honda CBR1000RR) will not be attending the Kyalami or Miller rounds due to the global economic crisis.

John Hopkins (Stiggy Racing Honda CBR1000RR) is still injured after his heavy Assen fall and will not be racing in South Africa, while Monza stand-in rider Jake Zemke is back in AMA action in the USA this weekend.