Fast start for Kruger in China

By John Hopkins

Canadian road racer Dan Kruger picked up a class win and another podium finish in the opening round of the Pan Delta Series at the Zhuhai circuit in China April 25.

Riding a 2009 ZX-6R for his BG-Kawasaki team, the former Canadian Superbike regular worked his way up from sixth to place third overall in the feature race and first in Class 3 (Supersport). He was only only 0.18 secs. behind the overall runner-up Yamaha YZF-R1. Kruger actually gained two spots on the final lap in his charge to the front.

He had finished second in the opening race of the weekend.

The result came after a fraught weekend of technical challenges for the BG-Kawasaki team.

"We destroyed the transmission and had serious mapping issues on the 600 and it was a stressful time leading up to the race," Kruger explained in an email. "The team worked all night to repair the transmission and clutch. We had a factory custom map emailed to us from the Malaysia FIM ASIA GP Team 15 minutes before the race start and the guys were programming the bike right up until the warm up lap of my event. It was a big risk that paid off huge."

Kruger is scheduled to run a ZX-10R in the premier class of the Pan Delta Series but mapping issues with the kit wiring harness forced the team to park the bike for the weekend.

The Montreal native expects to be back on the ZX-10R for round 2 of the series back at the Zhuhai Circuit June 18-20.

"This is shaping up to be a very good year for myself and the team," Kruger added. "I am doing more PR and off track interviews and it is helping the exposure side of things in Asia. It is also starting to look like I will be entered into the Macau Grand Prix in November as well as the final round of the FIM Asia GP Series. I have so much support over here, it is really quite amazing."