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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

22 juni 2019

Mahias On Pole At Misano

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing WorldSSP rider Lucas Mahias secured a clear pole position for Sunday’s race at Misano with a lap time that put him 0.206 seconds ahead of his next nearest rival.

Mahias had been fifth again after qualifying on Friday, as he had been at Jerez, but this weekend he was able to make a difference in two sectors of the track during Superpole. He enjoyed his own first Superpole win since the final raced of the 2018 season. This was his eighth career Superpole. The team's other rider Hikari Okubo found some issues in Superpole that held him back in overall ninth position.
 
This was also Kawasaki’s first pre-race qualifying success since Kenan Sofuoglu put his Kawasaki Puccetti Racing machine on pole at the Portuguese round in 2017.   
 
A home round at Misano for the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team has not been kind to their Japanese rider Hikari Okubo so far. He was 11th on Friday and then ninth today, after some strong showings at previous rounds in both qualifying and race conditions.
 
Now Okubo and his team will make preparations to ensure he gets back to his competitive best on raceday. The WorldSSP riders face a 19-lap race on Sunday, at the 4.226km long circuit on the Adriatic coast of Italy.
 
Lucas Mahias stated: “It is a very long time that I have not been on pole position, also for the team and Kawasaki. They have been working a lot to help me come back to this position so thanks to them. It is also good for me because it has been a long time since I smiled, and now my smile is back! I am confident for tomorrow even if the race is run in very hot conditions. Yesterday, in warm conditions, we worked a lot on long runs so I am confident for Sunday.”
 
Hikari Okubo, stated: “It was not a good qualifying this one. We had a few problems that held back our ability to get closer to the front. Now we will try to find the best set-up for raceday, try to make a good start and then have best race we can.”
 
Ayrton Badovini (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) placed 11th in Superpole at his home round, while his team-mate Kyle Smith (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) was 13th in Superpole, and will head up the fifth row of the starting grid.
 
Rob Hartog (Team Hartog – Against Cancer Kawasaki) was 18th, Nacho Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) 25th and Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team Kawasaki) 26th. Wildcard rider Roby Rolfo (Team Green Speed Kawasaki) was 30th in a field of 33 riders.
 
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