Image: MPAFoto.com.

World championship veteran and three-time Australian champion Bryan Staring made his debut race riding the Kawasaki agro on Benjan Racing Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R at Aragon recently for round one of the 2016 Superstock 1000 FIM Cup.

Staring finished the race in 12th position, the first Kawasaki over the line, and was the fastest ZX-10R rider in every session of the weekend from FP1 onwards.

Despite the positives of a new bike and team, there were struggles that resulted from interrupted test schedules and of course the gremlins that can surface with an all-new bike.

“This is my last year in Superstock and I want to win, so finishing 12th was not a good start, but it has happened and I’m even hungrier to win now,” Staring said. “The Kawasaki was not ready to race. It’s a great machine, however the parts we needed were not available and all Kawasaki riders were limited with what they could do to set the bike up.

“Unfortunately the March test at Aragon only ended up a half day, so we have had very little testing time. My team is fantastic and have been working extremely hard, however, we need better electronics control and we have bad chatter in the rear of the bike that needs sorting out. It will come good as soon as we can get the set-up right.

“I am riding the bike to its absolute limit and I was the fastest Kawasaki rider all weekend, however we need much more. The team were happy with my result and know how much I pushed – we all have the same goal to win so I am very motivated at the moment and physically I am fitter than ever. Hopefully the team will provide me with a more competitive set-up for Assen this weekend as I am ready to go!”

The scheduled three-day test at Aragon in March was ruined by weather and other limiting factors and reduced to a half-day test. The following test was close and did not allow time for the team to return to Holland and make changes to the bike, in turn then heading straight to the race weekend again unable to take advantage of test data and make changes.

In all, round one was a test weekend and the team soon found limitations with the Kawasaki electronics. He found the traction control too intrusive and the engine braking too high, hindering his lap times quite a lot. Aside from these issues, the bike was a step forward on the previous model with good power and fantastic steering.