Noyes Valencia CEV Report

American Kenny Noyes started second off the front row and was running comfortably in the lead group at the Valencian round of the Spanish 1000cc Extreme championship when his Kawasaki ZX-10R began smoking and blowing oil out the crankcase breather. With oil on the right side of the tire, Noyes was second when reigning Spanish Champion and eventual winner Carmelo Morales dived inside and gestured frantically to warn Kenny of the problem at the end of lap one.

Noyes understood immediately and slowed. He had a slide in the fast, turn one left-hander at the end of the long home straight, but pulled off the racing line and then off the track at the first opportunity.

A similar problem slowed Noyes in the first qualifying session on Saturday, but the team believed the glitch was solved when Kenny improved in the hot afternoon session and missed the pole by only 0.099 seconds.

On the Monday following the race the team tore down both the engines used in Valencia and, after consultation with Kawasaki France, discovered the cause and the remedy.

After three rounds, all started from the front row, Noyes has a third and two DNFs, but the team is confident that he can run at the front in the four remaining rounds.

Kenny Noyes (DNF)

“That was really bad luck. I got a good start and was really feeling strong. We had a real good pace in practice and I felt very comfortable running in the lead group, but just after I passed De Gea and moved into second I realized the engine was down on power and that we were in trouble, but I didn’t realize there was oil on the rear tire until Carmelo Morales came by on the last corner and warned me when he passed. Even though I let off, I still had a big slide at the end of the long home straight. I got off the racing line and parked the bike as soon as I could. I was lucky not to crash and not to cause anyone else to crash. The next turn has a right-hander and I would have been off if I had thrown the bike in hard.”

“The weekend was going perfectly and I know we would have been there at the end to fight for the win. This was the first problem that we have had with the bike all season. It was a small part and a small mistake that cost us big time, but we will come back even stronger now. There are four races left and 100 points in play, so all we can do now is go for wins, try and run the table on everybody and have fun doing it!”