KTM Australia press release:

KTM’s Angus Reekie has reflected on a crucial strategy change which turned his season around and got the defence of his Swann Insurance Australasian Superbike Championship combined Pro-Twins and Nakedbike crown, squarely back on track.

After initially kicking off the year in dominant fashion, Reekie’s season went downhill fast last month, when he fell victim to cold tyres at Mallala, damaged his bike, and relinquished his lead in the naked bike championship. Last weekend back on the familiar turf of Sydney Motorsport Park however, he employed a different approach.

“We debuted the new model KTM 1290 Super Duke R,” said Reekie, “but we wanted to play it safe and run the bike in properly instead of ringing its neck straight off. But there was another factor, because the weather was so cold the track was unbelievably slippery. Pretty much half of the Pro-Twins field got wiped out on Saturday – and everyone, 600s, superbikes -guys were crashing all over the place.”

If Reekie’s plan was to be tentative with the KTM 1290 Super Duke R, the fact was well concealed from the combined naked bike and Pro-Twins field on Friday when he qualified the orange testosterone machine fastest overall!

Reekie’s 1:34.581 was more than two-tenths faster than the Ducati Panigale of Craig McMartin, with Beau Beaton’s Vincent 1600 in third place.

“The bike worked really well and had plenty of power right from the start. It’ll loosen up a little bit more the more kilometres we put on it, too. It felt great.” In the chilly conditions Reekie carefully nursed the Super Duke R to second and third overall on Saturday, before carding a second and two thirds on Sunday.

“With the track conditions and the new bike factor, it was a battle all weekend to be honest,” admitted Reekie, “so I thought I was better off just playing it safe and getting through the event and collecting good points.”

And he did. Top Naked Bike honours on both Saturday and Sunday gave the KTM ace back the lead in the Naked Bike class for both the Formula Xtreme and Australian Superbike Championship series, and he grew his lead in the overall ASC Pro Twins classification out to 38 points.

The next round of the Australasian Superbike championship takes place at Queensland Raceway on August 14-16. For more information on KTM motorcycles visit www.ktm.com.au or www.facebook.com.KTMAustralia.