Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) went from sixth place in Superpole qualifying to fourth place in the opening race at Most, making this the best day of the season so far for Gerloff and his Ninja ZX-10RR.
After wowing everyone on Friday 15 May with the best single lap time of the day, Garrett stepped up again on his Ninja to start the first race of the weekend from sixth place after Superpole Qualifying on Saturday morning.
Launching from the second row, Garrett got unlucky in the first few corners of Race One and lost some places, but the race was to be red-flagged and restarted, this time over 21 laps, not the originally scheduled 22.
Once again setting off from sixth place on the grid, Garrett made a better start and pushed all the way to take the first off-podium ranking of fourth, earning what is his best result of the year so far.
He came under pressure near the end from Axel Bassani’s bimota KB998 Rimini machine, but he resisted the challenge from behind to take fourth place – his best race result since he joined Kawasaki last season.
After a sometimes dramatic but truly rewarding Saturday, Sunday for Garrett and his Kawasaki WorldSBK Team will feature a short Tissot Superpole Race and a full distance 22-lap Race Two.
Manuel Puccetti
“A great day for our Superbike project. Garrett finished fourth, which we’re really pleased about, not only for the result itself, so close to the podium, but also because it confirms the recent positive trend and consistent growth of our rider and bike, which is proving increasingly competitive. All our efforts are finally paying off.”
Garrett Gerloff
“I am just happy to be fighting there in the top five places, and that was our goal before the weekend started. To accomplish that goal is really nice and it kind of lets me breathe a little bit for the two races tomorrow. I hope this top five result helps. Yesterday I just had a good lap in FP2, but today I was sixth in Superpole Qualifying and then fourth in the race, which is where we know the bike and I are at the moment. I think the bike setting was working well at Balaton Park last time out and also here in Most, so we are just trying to make small adjustments to keep moving forward. We are doing it, so I am happy.”
