From a press release:

DUCATI CORSE PRESS INFORMATION

WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP

Testing – Kyalami (South Africa)

Friday 25 January 2002

DUCATI CORSE TESTING CONTINUES AT KYALAMI

Troy Bayliss and Ruben Xaus (Ducati Infostrada) both improved their times on the second day of Kyalami testing in South Africa after getting to grips with the 2002-spec 998R Factory bikes they will ride in this year’s World Superbike Championship.

Both riders are in the middle of a pre-season three-day Michelin tyre test at the high-altitude Johannesburg venue, which will host round 3 of the championship at the start of April.

World champion Bayliss managed to make up on the extra day’s track running of his closest rival Colin Edwards (Honda), who is also present at the test, and recorded a best time of 1:42.2.

“Today felt much better”, said 32-year-old Bayliss, who completed 75 laps. “Yesterday I was on my 2002-spec racebike for the first time, I hadn’t raced since before Christmas so it took me a bit of time to get going. But this afternoon I went faster than I did in qualifying for last year’s race, so I’m feeling really confident now for the season ahead.

“Colin was also looking good out there but for sure I’ll be able to get my times down even further tomorrow morning when it’s cooler”, he added.

After his crash yesterday, Xaus also settled in well on his 2002 998R Factory bike and put in a lot of mileage on the second day of testing, recording a best time of 1:43.4 after completing 82 laps.

“Now I’m getting comfortable with my riding after two months inactivity”, said Xaus. “I lost a bit of confidence after crashing yesterday but took things easy this morning and then improved my lap times a lot in the afternoon. Another few days’ testing and we’ll be up there”.

The final day of testing will take place tomorrow Saturday after which Ducati Corse will head for Australia for next week’s scheduled SBK Winter Tests at Phillip Island from January 30 – February 1.