Melandri and Laverty Complete Two Successful Days Testing in Misano Yamaha World Superbike riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty have just completed two very successful days testing their R1 machinery, in ideal weather conditions, at the Misano Adriatico circuit on Italy’s Adriatic Riviera. The team enjoyed good weather, sunshine with an air temperature of 31 degrees and a track temperature of 44 for the two days testing with rain appearing briefly this afternoon but only disrupting track time by less than 30 minutes. The 12th round of the World Superbike championship will take place close by in Imola, just next week, in what should be similarly warm conditions. With just three stop offs left on the 2011 calendar, the Yamaha WSB team made sure to make the most of the two days testing, Marco Melandri completing 172 laps while Eugene Laverty put in a total of 190, as final preparation work before the season close down. Yamaha World Superbike Team riders also got the chance to get to grips yesterday with the new tyres Pirelli have prepared for the final phase of the championship and gather important data for the development of new 2012 tyre compounds. Melandri and Laverty worked their way through a variety of different settings over the two days, making adjustments and advances to the chassis, electronics, engine brake and geometry of their R1 machinery. Improvements were immediately evident, allowing the Yamaha WSB riders to then proceed to improve on fast lap times but also to work on their race pace and successfully complete a series of consistently fast laps on race tyres. Marco Melandri wrapped up the two days testing in Misano after setting the fastest time. The Italian lapped the track in a time of 1’35.8, an impressive eight tenths of a second faster than June’s race record lap (1’36.520) set by Carlos Checa, the current championship points leader. Team-mate Laverty was also on the pace, completing the two days just two tenths of a second behind Melandri, setting the second fastest time of 1’36.0. With the successful work completed over the two days in Misano, The Yamaha World Superbike Team will head to Imola next weekend, confident of having the competitive package required to put on a strong battle for victory and keep the championship title within reach. Marco Melandri Yamaha World Superbike Team “We’ve just completed two very positive days testing. I had a particularly tough race weekend here in June so we tried various new settings over the last two days and found positive results all around. We made progress with the engine brake which I had been struggling with during the season and hopefully we made a step in the right direction which will help in the remaining three races also. We spent a significant part of yesterday working with Pirelli mainly on new compound solutions for the 2012 season. Overall, it went really well. We worked very hard but made improvements and were fast and consistent throughout the two days.” Eugene Laverty Yamaha World Superbike Team “We got a lot of work done over the last two days testing. It’s possibly the best test we have done so far this season. The first day we worked mainly with Pirelli on trying solutions for next year which should be useful. In the remainder of yesterday and then again today we tried a variety of different settings and gathered plenty of useful data. We discovered some interesting things about the geometry of the bike which should help me improve my turning and will be a benefit to me in the last three rounds of this season. We definitely mad a big step in the right direction and I’m quite pleased with the two days overall.” Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager “We were back on track in Misano, three months after the race, a race which didn’t go particularly well for us with either Marco or Eugene. There was a wide time gap behind Carlos and Max and we just weren’t fast enough. This time in Misano we immediately tried different chassis set ups on both bikes which provided positive results allowing both riders to put in faster laps. On day one we spent the morning getting reacquainted with the track before then moving on to working through some new tyre compounds with Pirelli and providing them with important data they’ll use to develop suitable tyres for the coming rounds and in particular for next year. Today we worked our way through various different front and rear set-ups making changes to the chassis, the electronics and geometry of the machine, improving on overall performance and allowing both riders to improve on fast lap times but also on race pace and consistency. We are coming away from Misano pleased with the work carried out and confident ahead of next weekend’s race in Imola.” More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing: THE ALTHEA RACING TEAM CONCLUDES TWO DAYS OF TESTING AT THE MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT Misano (Italy), Wednesday 14th September 2011: the Althea Racing team and rider Carlos Checa have just completed two days of testing at the Misano World Circuit, alongside other SBK riders, and the results of testing have proved very positive. In very warm conditions (air temperature 32ËšC, track 44ËšC), the team got started on their work programme yesterday morning. Carlos was out on track, clocking up the miles using various new tyre solutions that Pirelli provided specifically for these tests. Together with his technicians, the Spanish rider worked hard and recorded some very interesting lap times during the day. Work continued today and although most of the day was spent testing the remaining new tyres, the team also dedicated some time to making refinements to the set up of the bike. In total the team tested five new rear tyre solutions. Over the two days, Checa completed roughly 120 laps, with a best (unofficial) time of 1m36.00, recorded today, fastest than his quickest lap in June’s Misano races. With the tests behind them, the Althea Racing team will now turn its attention to the upcoming round of the World Superbike Championship, taking place at Imola from the 23rd to 25th September. Carlos Checa “We’re very happy with the results of these tests. Pirelli brought some new, high performance solutions for us to try and we were able to lap consistently fast. It was hot, with conditions similar to those of the June races, with a track temperature of around 44 degrees. Even though the asphalt was hot, the tyres behaved well and we were able to maintain fast times for numerous laps. We spent maybe 80% of our time working with the tyres and the rest trying some different things with regard to set up, all very positive. We even closed a little