BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX TEAM) KEEPS UP PRESSURE ON HIS RIVALS WITH QUICKEST TIME ON DAY 2 OF VALENCIA TEST Valencia (Spain), Tuesday 28 March: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox Team) kept up the pressure on his championship rivals with quickest time on the second day of the three-day test session organized by FG Sport at Valencia. The 36-year-old Australian, who won on home territory three weeks ago to head the points table, shaved a further chunk off yesterday’s mark on his Xerox-backed Ducati 999F06 to end the second day with a time of 1m34.987s, set during the morning session. His closest rival, fellow Aussie Troy Corser (Suzuki) was again left in second place, a full half-a-second down on the former world champion. Bayliss crashed in the final minutes of the afternoon session while trying out a new front tyre but was unscathed. “It went pretty good again today” commented Bayliss. “The track was not bad this morning and I did a 34m90s which was OK. In the afternoon I did a full race simulation in similar times to last year but it was hot and windy out there. I had a bit of a crash at the end when I was doing some quick laps on a soft front tyre and lost the front on some oil, but I’m OK. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow morning when I can improve my time but the most important thing is to do a long-run in the afternoon in preparation for the race here in April.” His 24-year-old Italian team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi, sixth after the first day, knocked three-tenths off his time but slipped down one place in the overall standings behind Chris Walker ((Kawasaki), Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) and Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki). “I tried a number of different front tyres today and we managed to find a setting that was satisfactory” declared Lanzi. “The test today was in any case positive because I was able to lap consistently in the 1m36s. Tomorrow we’ll do a race simulation and I am sure that I’ll go well.” OVERALL TIMES: 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m34.987s; 2. Corser (Suzuki) 1m35.571s; 3. Haga (Yamaha) 1m35.618s; 4. Walker (Kawasaki) 1m35.827s; 5. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m35.899s; 6. Nieto (Kawasaki) 1m35.974s; 7. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m36.009s; 8. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m36.034s; 9. Xaus (Ducati) 1m36.175s; 10. Pitt (Yamaha) 1m36.215s; etc. More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: FINE WEATHER ALLOWS ANOTHER GOOD DAY OF TESTING AT VALENCIA The second day of the Valencia SBK tests proved to be not as hot as day one, but still provided a good platform for the World Superbike riders to get down to work. A light wind characterized the day but without disturbing the work in progress on track too much. For the Supersport boys, Charpentier and Sofuoglu, it was another day in front of everybody while real improvements were made by Karl and James, on the Winston Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RRs. Tomorrow is the final day of testing before the restart of the season in Valencia on April 23, where James and Sebastien will try to attain and maintain the lead in their respective World championships. Ronald Ten Kate Winston Ten Kate Honda Team Manager “On the Superbike side of things we are still facing some problems to find a good set up around here. Like I said yesterday we are testing to learn more and more about this year’s machinery. James has some chattering problems at the moment, but Karl Muggeridge is not encountering this. Karl is improving step by step. I think tomorrow we will be able to solve the chatter and improve the lap times with James. On the Supersport side of things, this morning we were focussing a lot to put in some fast lap times while this afternoon we ran with a full race configuration, a lot of fuel in the tank and that was going nicely again. I think tomorrow morning will be a good time to register some fast laps and I guess we’ll see what happens.” James Toseland – SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (12th position 57 laps Fastest lap 1’36.323) “A bit of frustration today for me. We have been troubling to cure the bigger problem which is the chattering but in part we solved some other smaller problems. Everything we tried has not taken away the chattering completely but I am sure tomorrow we’ll make it all work like we have done in the last two races. If we look at the times we can see that we are not too far from the others, so as soon as we find our best settings we’ll be able to fight with the fastest. Tomorrow we will try some long runs and some qualifying tyres to understand what situation we’ll be in for the third round of the season, in three weeks time.” Karl Muggeridge – SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (8th position 65 laps Fastest lap 1’36.034) “The time has gotten better on the second bike but bike one had some problems. This morning I hurt my back somehow and it surely didn’t help me through the afternoon session. Also, the weather wasn’t the best this afternoon, due to a quite strong wind, but apart from these things I can consider myself satisfied with the work we did today. Tomorrow we’ll concentrate on pushing the bike a bit more and try some long runs. We’ll also try some qualifying tyres that Pirelli will provide us with.” Sebastien Charpentier WSS Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (1st position 38 laps Fastest lap 1’37.437) “This morning gave us a nice session. It has been a good day overall, the weather was beautiful for testing and I hope for a similar weather conditions for the race at the end of April. There was a bit of wind but it didn’t cause any problems. The bike is really good and the team organization is also really good, even if my chief mechanic is not here. For the moment we are ready and the situation in general is very good. For tomorrow’s sessions I will look for a fast lap time and try a new rear tyre.” Kenan Sofuoglu WSS Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (2nd position 42 laps Fastest lap 1’38.352) “We tried many things but I couldn’t achieve what I wanted. As I said yesterday, for me second position is OK but I just want to try to close down the gap a bit to Sebastien, who is incredibly fast. For tomorrow I will try many other settings because I feel I can improve my fastest lap time. Hopefully things will go better and, if the weather will allow us, we’ll improve our times.” More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: Gain in Spain for FPR The second day of the Superbike World Championship official test at Valencia, Spain, today brought further encouragement for Foggy PETRONAS Racing. Both Steve Martin and Craig Jones were able to make in-roads into their best laps of yesterday, while also testing new engine specifications. Steve finished the morning session in 10th place, having shaved more than half a second off yesterday’s best lap. However, an afternoon of frustrating technical hitches prevented further progress for the Australian and he slipped to 13th in the standings. Superbike debutant Craig sliced more than 1.5 seconds off his best lap around the tight and twisty circuit, while also experimenting with new stages of engine development. Steve said: “The morning session was pretty positive and I managed to lap a lot quicker than last year. Tomorrow I need to improve the handling of the bike with the new specification camshaft, as I am having problems wheelying out of the corners, so we will change the weight distribution and ride heights. I want to do a long run on race tyres tomorrow and then put some qualifiers in, as some of the other riders have done today. But when it comes to the race we already know that it is going to be so tight as not to be funny!” Craig said: “We made a lot of progress today and I was able to take a big chunk out of my time. If I can keep on doing that tomorrow I will end up with a decent time. A lot of the improvement is coming from just riding the bike and learning the track but I think I can still find a lot of time in the set-up of the bike. I am looking forward to going out in the morning and using the experience I have gained today to go quicker straight away.” Second day times, Superbike World Championship official test, Valencia, Spain: 1 Bayliss 1:34.987; 2 Corser 1:35.571; 3 Haga 1:35.618; 4 Walker 1:35.827; 5 Kagayama 1:35.899; 6 Nieto 1:35.974; 7 Lanzi 1:36.009; 8 Muggeridge 1:36.034; 9 Xaus 1:36.175; 10 Pitt 1:36.215; 13 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:36.413; 28 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:38.759 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra continued their extensive work testing different components and a variety of settings at Valencia in Spain today and made good progress. Despite not using any qualifying tyres today, Troy Corser finished second quickest, just half a second or so behind Troy Bayliss (Ducati). Yukio Kagayama ended fifth quickest and Alstare Engineering Corona Extra rider Fabien Foret posted the 16th fastest time as he continued his steep Superbike learning curve. Foret was only a second behind Corser – an indication that the Frenchman is getting to grips with his life in Superbike. Strong winds hindered today’s tests, but Kagayama was the only rider claiming not to have been affected by them in the afternoon session. Troy Corser – 1:35.571: “So far the two days have gone pretty well and we’ve tested a variety of stuff including different clutch components, forks, rear shocks and other stuff. These are the kind of things we never get a real chance to try out during a race weekend, so these three days are giving us a lot of time to try things and evaluate them. All the info should help improve what is already a good package. “Today was a bit windy and I had to be careful exiting turns one and also going over the hill before the last two turns. It would’ve pretty easy to crash through there so I made sure I took it carefully. It was hotter in the afternoon and I felt that the tyres didn’t work as well as the morning when it was a bit cooler. For me, generally, the Pirellis are like that and it’s something to be aware off – especially in a race. “My little finger of my right hand has been a little stiff since the fall at Phillip Island and it’s possible that it may have a greenstick fracture. It’s a little bit sore when I pull my gloves on, but not bad enough to affect me on the track. Tomorrow we’ve got more different things to try and by the end we should have a lot of useful information to study.” Yukio Kagayama – 1:35.889: “I think the tests have gone well so far. I had a little crash yesterday, but no damage – well not to me anyway! Sorry to the mechanics though, because I gave them extra work! Here we have been trying many different things; trying to get a good setting for the bike so that when we come here for the race in one month or so, we can start in a good position. We had some clutch problems in Qatar, so this is one area where we have been working on and hope to have a good solution by the end of tomorrow. “Many riders said they had problems with the wind and change of temperature this afternoon, but for me there was no big difference! Maybe the tyres do not work as well when it is hotter, but I didn’t notice it so much. I’m happy with the progress we have made so far and hope to make further progress tomorrow.” Fabien Foret – 1:36.577: “I am happy because I am finally beginning to enjoy riding my bike. When I first jumped on it, I think I was trying to ride it a bit like I rode in Supersport. But yesterday and today it is beginning to feel like my bike and I am starting to have fun with it. You can ride a Supersport bike fast even if the set-up is not perfect, but you can’t do that with a Superbike because there are so many more variables. Understanding them takes time and I am learning as fast as I can. Riding the first two rounds of the championship was a good experience, but it is good to come here with no pressure and try different things. I think we are making good progress now and I am hoping it continues tomorrow.” Best lap times (after two days):1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:34.987, 2 Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:35.571, 3 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:35.618, 4 Walker (GB-Kawasaki) 1:35.827, 5 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:35.889, 6 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 1:35.974, 7 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:36.009, 8 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda) 1:36.034, 9 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1:36.175, 10 Pitt (Aus-Yamaha) 1:36.215. 16 Fabien Foret (F-Alstare Engineering Corona Extra) 1:36.577.
