Kawasaki Puccetti Racing has completed day one of WorldSSP practice at the TT Assen Circuit in The Netherlands. During the opening championship round at Motorland Aragon in Spain, rider Can Oncu reached the podium while team-mate Yari Montella made solid progress. This morning, in sunny conditions, both riders headed out for the first free practice, using the time to work with their respective teams to identify the best set-up for their Ninja ZX-6R bikes. With a time of 1’38”679, Oncu was immediately up among the frontrunners, finishing third. Montella also did well, finishing in tenth place with a best of 1’39”420 despite never having raced at this track.
The second session ran in warmer conditions in the afternoon. Oncu upped his pace and improved on his earlier best time to finish second overall (1’37”958) in day one’s aggregate results. Montella lowered his time with respect to FP1, but not by as much as he’d hoped. With a 1’39”025, the Italian rider rounded out the day in thirteenth place overall.
Tomorrow’s WorldSSP schedule will involve Superpole and the first race of this second Dutch round.
TT Assen Circuit – The Netherlands – Supersport World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Aegerter (Yamaha) – 2) Oncu (Kawasaki) – 3) Bulega (Ducati) – 4) Baldassarri (Yamaha) – 5) Van Straalen (Yamaha) – 6) Cluzel (Yamaha) .…. 13) Montella (Kawasaki)
Can Oncu
“I’m fairly pleased with my position in the standings, but not so much with my performance or that of the bike. This morning I immediately felt comfortable on the bike, but when I pushed harder during the afternoon, I saw that there are still areas in which we need to work. The set-up of the bike and my lap time could have been better, so tomorrow we’ll continue to work as hard as possible because my goal is to win.”
Yari Montella
“This is my first time at the track, and it’s beautiful and fast, but not easy to interpret. In today’s sessions, I worked with my team to find a good set-up for my bike. My result in the first practice was OK, and then we were improving in the second session but had some problems after putting in the new tyre. There are still things we have to work on, but I’m nevertheless pleased with what we’ve done today. I hope to run a good Superpole tomorrow so I can make a good start to the races.”
