Sykes to ride for Kawasaki again
Kawasaki have announced that Tom Sykes has signed to ride for the team in 2012. The Huddersfield-born rider will join existing rider Joan Lascorz.
Skyes, who has been involved with Kawasaki for the past two seasons, finished the 2011 season in 13th place, He did, however, boast a world championship win at the German WSBK round in early September.
Commenting at the announcement he said, "I'm very happy to be continuing with Kawasaki. I believe the bike has good potential and we saw some of that come through in 2011 with a race win in Germany and superpole at Misano.
"These are the kind of results I am looking to achieve in the coming season on a regular basis and I really believe we can do this."
"I have a lot of confidence in Kawasaki and the team around me, so if we can improve a couple of points with the set-up of the bike on the track which I feel are restricting performance this would be a big step forward for us in the final results. I am looking forward to re-starting our test programme again very soon."
Kawasaki team manager Guim Roda added, "Kawasaki always tries to keep the people it has in place and Tom has been making a good job in the last two years with us.
"He has the potential to go fast, as he has shown in 2011, and now we have to repeat that for full race distance at each round. He is young and determined, which are good combinations for a fast rider.
"I'm sure working closer with Marcel, his new crew chief, and taking part in all the tests we have planned means he will take one step more and he will be able to fight for the podium places at every race. Let's see what he can show us all next year."