2007 Superbike World Championship Valencia tests, March 18/19, 2007 Circuit: 4.005 kms. Weather: dry, sunny MAX 4th, YUKIO 12th Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi recorded the fourth quickest lap of the two-day Valencia tests, easily inside the lap record of 1:35.007 set by Briton Neil Hodgson (Ducati) in 2003. Max and the team used the two days to evaluate different set-ups and mappings and although he was unable to find the perfect balance for his bike, he was able to finish in the top four. His team mate Yukio Kagayama defied the pain barrier throughout the two days and ended with the twelfth fastest lap overall. His left shoulder joint was heavily strapped (a legacy of his heavy crash in Phillip Island recently) and although his discomfort was severe he still managed to help the team test a variety of components and settings. Aussie Troy Bayliss (Ducati) stormed to the top of the standings with a lap of 1:34.102, despite the windy conditions this afternoon. Second quickest was Spaniard Ruben Xaus (Ducati), with Lorenzo Lanzi (also Ducati-mounted) third fastest. MAX I think Valencia is quite a good track for testing, possibly because it is quite a technical track. It is not a very fast track and, because there are so many slow corners you need to find a good set-up for your bike to make fast laps here. The temperature has been good these two days and we tried many different ideas, but when we come back here for the race in one month’s time, conditions may be very different and we will have to think again. We started trying to get a good set-up and balance because, when I find a good feeling with a bike, I can push hard. We’ve also been working on the bike’s electronics, mapping etc. There are lots of things we can change on the bike and sometimes small changes can make big differences, so we must use a step-by-step approach. We tried a few different rear tyres here also. Now we have to sit down and analyse all the data so that we can make progress. The Suzuki is a good bike and I feel that there is quite a bit more to come from it. Every time we go out, we learn a little bit more and this is the way we have to go so that we can compete at the top level. Today was a little frustrating at times, but that is the nature of testing. There was a lot to do and I think we probably did most of it. YUKIO On the first day, I could feel pain in my left shoulder, but I wanted to help in this test, so I tried to forget about it. On the bike it was not so bad, but in the evening, I could feel it for sure. I didn’t take any pain-killers at all, because I wanted to feel what was going on with my bike as much as possible. There are many things to test here, so it was just a case of getting on with it. Fortunately the weather was good on both days and we were able to do a lot of work. For me it was difficult to ride for more than about five or six laps in one go – because of my shoulder – so I tried to concentrate on the important things we had to test – different links, ignition etc. Some of this work will be very useful in the future and tests are the best place to try these things, not during a race weekend. I had some tyre problems today – like others – and I could not get the best performance from the rears. The other problem today was the wind! It was so strong, kept changing direction and every lap was different and that made life difficult. It is bad enough trying to hang on to a bike in strong winds when you are 100 per cent fit, but it is much more difficult when your shoulder is not as strong as it should be! But I got through the tests OK and now I have some time before Donington for my shoulder to improve. Overall results Laps Best lap 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 165 1:34.102 2 Xaus (E-Ducati) 96 1:34.565 3 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 120 1:34.584 4 Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 144 1:34.708 5 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 129 1:34.851 6 Haga (J-Yamaha) 92 1:35.029 7 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 97 1:35.410 8 Muggeridge (Aus-Honda) 78 1:35.470 9 Neukirchner (D-Suzuki) 92 1:35.532 10 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 124 1:35.639 12 Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 115 1:35.785 More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: BAYLISS AND LANZI FIRST AND THIRD FOR DUCATI XEROX IN VALENCIA SUPERBIKE TESTING Valencia (Spain), Monday 19th March : Troy Bayliss’s love affair with the Valencia circuit continued as the Australian set the quickest time on both qualifying (1m34.102s) and race tyres (1m34.482s) in the two-day official FGSport tests at the Spanish venue. His quickest time, obtained with just a few minutes to go, was half-a-second faster than the circuit’s official outright best lap set by Neil Hodgson (Ducati) in 2003, but four-tenths of a second off Troy’s own extraordinary performance in testing exactly one year ago. “It’s one year later and I’m going slower so I must be getting old!” joked Troy after today’s extremely windy marathon session. “I’ve had some pretty good results here in the past as you know, and yesterday morning we got pretty much onto the pace straightaway. In the afternoon the track got a lot warmer and had a lot of wind and we struggled quite a bit. So we really worked hard today and came up with a couple of things in the afternoon and that got me more comfortable and I just leave the test very happy. If we did the race now I’d probably use the tyre I raced on last year because it’s very consistent, but who knows what things are like in a month’s time. The team worked really hard this weekend and it was a good shake-down both to get me ready for Donington and to give us a good starting-point for the race here in April.” Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi was quickest out of the box today and the Italian stayed at the top of the timesheets for much of the day’s five hours of circuit action, but was edged out of the second spot towards the end by Ruben Xaus (Ducati). “This morning I started off well immediately and was quickest for most of the day” commented Lorenzo. “I did the time with a race tyre because I managed to ruin my qualifying lap and then seeing as the track conditions were getting worse, I decided to keep the second qualifier for the afternoon. Today we did a great job, testing a lot of things and I’m pleased because we are on the right track. Then in the last quarter of an hour I put softer tyres on and started to lap quicker but when it was time to use the qualifier the weather conditions suddenly changed bringing strong winds and dust on the track, and then Ruben and Troy got ahead of me. However I’m still pretty happy with my performance despite not going as quick as I did in November when the conditions were better.” TIMES : 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m34.102s; 2. Xaus (Ducati) 1m34.565s; 3. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m34.584s; 4. Biaggi (Suzuki) 1m34.708s; 5. Corser (Yamaha) 1m34.851s; 6. Haga (Yamaha) 1m35.029s; 7. Nieto (Kawasaki) 1m35.410s; 8. Muggeridge (Honda) 1m35.470s; 9. Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1m35.532s; 10. Laconi (Kawasaki) 1m35.639s. More, from a press release issued by Pirelli: This time Valencia didn’t forget its promise, with three days of reasonably good weather for this test, which was accompanied by great expectations all round. After the first day dedicated to the Superstock classes, Supersport and Superbike riders had two days to test all the new material. Many bikes are new this season, and there were a lot of new parts brought here after the two ‘extra-European’ races, designed to improve the bikes ready to face the challenge of the Championship. This was a FGS official test, in which Development Teams were testing the new Pirelli tyres but they were not alone in the racetrack, as basically the whole grid came here. This means that Pirelli brought a lot of different solutions, both for Supersport and for Superbike, and in order to test tyres and bikes the riders were asked to undertake a really a huge job. In the Supersport class 3 front and 3 rear tyres were present in basically the same numbers as usual like in a race weekend which meant that there were more than 2200 tyres, only for this class. At the end of the four sessions the best time went to Kevin Curtain, and he was able to set a very good 1’37.126. The wind started to blow quite strongly, particularly on day two, and this was annoying the riders making it more difficult to set the best times. Curtain, during the two days made the incredible amount of 108 laps, which represents 5 races! This is a good way to describe how important these tests were to the teams. In Superbike the total amount of available solutions was even bigger: 7 rear tyres and 4 front tyres, including a qualifier. SBK riders from the development teams were asked to test this material in order to give to the Pirelli technicians useful information to develop the tyres – not only for the Valencia race that will be held in here on April the 15th – but also for other rounds during the season. Four long sessions in SBK gave a lot of answers, also because the riders made a huge amount of laps, concentrating on the race itself and thus making many long runs instead of single laps. At the end of the sessions the name on top of the list is for Troy Bayliss, preceding Xaus and Lanzi. Fastest man here in November Max Biaggi finished with the 4th time, but all the riders were more focused on preparing the race than on the single fast lap time, and also the conditions of the track were not allowing to repeat the times of November. WSupersport (Pirelli DIABLO SUPERCORSA, 17″) Curtain Yamaha Motor Germany 1’37.126 Roccoli Yamaha Team Italia 1’37.498 Foret Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 1’37.556 Fujiwara Althea Honda Team 1’37.590 Parkes Yamaha Motor Germany 1’37.635 Race ’06: Best lap 1’38.664 Pole ’06: 1’36.913 WSBK (Pirelli DIABLO SUPERBIKE, slick 16,5″) Bayliss Ducati Xerox 1’34.102 Xaus Team Sterilgarda 1’34.565 Lanzi Ducati Xerox 1’34.584 Biaggi Suzuki Alstare 1’34.708 Corser Yamaha Motor Italia 1’34.851 Haga Yamaha Motor Italia 1’35.029 Nieto Kawasaki PSG-1 1’35.410 Muggeridge Alto Evolution Honda 1’35.470 Neukirchner Suzuki Germany 1’35.532 Laconi Kawasaki PSG-1 1’35.639 Race ’06: best lap 1’35.37 Superpole: 1’34.9 More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: PROGRESS FOR TROY IN VALENCIA Despite the very strong winds that attacked Valencia circuit today, Troy and his Yamaha Motor Italia team tested a variety of parts and settings and left the track in a positive frame of mind. Troy posted his best lap of 1:34.851 in this afternoon’s session, well inside Neil Hodgson’s 2003 lap record, but it was only good enough for the fifth quickest time. Leading the charge was Troy Bayliss (Ducati), with a lap of 1:34.102, with Spaniard Ruben Xaus (Ducati) second. Third fastest was Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati), just ahead of Max Biaggi (Suzuki) in fourth place. TROY – 5th, 1:34.851 Generally I think the tests were not too bad. I could feel the differences in everything we tried, whether it was links, forks, calipers or anything else. Some of the new settings were better, some were worse, but that’s what testing is all about – trying out things. The team have made some small changes to the throttle bodies and that has improved the mid-range, which means that the bike is a bit easier to ride. I feel good on the bike – it stops and turns well, but it isn’t going fast enough yet. All it needs is a bit more power and I hope we can get that pretty soon – hopefully for Donington. I think all of us have had some tyre problems here and that has been a bit frustrating, because I’m sure I could’ve gone quicker. I’m pretty happy with a new front we tried here and would’ve liked to tried some more, but they didn’t have enough for me to make more tests. The wind was very strong today and it seemed to keep changing direction and that caused a few problems. Going into turn one, I had the bike leant over, but then the wind picked it up and pushed me more upright. That meant I ran in too deep and had to take to the gravel! But I kept it upright OK, rode through the gravel and back on to the track, so no big drama. That was the only ‘moment’, otherwise all was OK and I’m happy that we managed to get through as much as we did and I’m looking forward to the fruits of all the work. See ya, Troy