Kawasaki Racing Team riders Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes finished their two-day Phillip island test sessions in second and fourth places respectively.
More importantly each is now well prepared to face the challenge of two 22-lap races on Sunday 22nd of February.
After many changes to the technical regulations for the 2015 FIM Superbike World Championship this final test against all their competitors allowed new signing Rea and long-time Kawasaki rider Sykes to measure themselves in terms of pure speed over one lap, and full race pace.
Both riders are confident in their performance on used tyres and have declared themselves ready to enter race weekend, which commences with the first practice sessions on Friday 20th February.
Over two days of dry testing at PI, with a cooler and overcast second day, Rea completed a total of 139 laps, more than any other rider. He was one of only three competitors under the 1‰Ûª31 second mark, setting a 1‰Ûª30.880 best lap in the last of four individual track sessions.
‰ÛÏI am happy to go into race weekend like this, although we still have some things to work on." Rea said after two days of testing. "It is just a bit of an unknown really so I am just working with my guys on the bike and trying to focus on going as fast as we can for all 20-laps.
"I was able to do a long run today and was able to keep most of the laps in the 1‰Ûª31s. I do not know how competitive that is going to be but for now it is a start and we have that information to work with. We have done all the testing we can do, so I am happy that race weekend is coming.
"All the anticipation and excitement is there but we do not have to wait long now. I am looking forward to the lights going out on race day. Definitely, this is the best position we have ever been in at the start of a season.‰Û
