Checa pushes on to head up the timesheets Phillip Island (Australia), Monday 20 February 2012: Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) held off the charge of his old rivals Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) and Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) in today’s two official test sessions at Phillip Island. In the warmer afternoon track conditions the world champion was unable to improve on his best time of 1’31″947 set in the morning, finding he had reached a plateau in terms of pure pace. “We have reached a limit in this track in testing and it seems we are in the same limit, 1’31.8 to 1’31.9,” stated Checa. “We are trying different things, moving the bike, suspension and electronics and some things are better in one area then worse in another but the lap times are basically the same. It is not frustrating because we are working well and getting some good conclusions but I felt the track conditions today meant that everyone was struggling to improve lap times. I used both the wide and narrow Pirelli tyres and there is some difference between them, but we are still not clear which one can be the best.” Biaggi, however, improved by a fraction with a sequence of fast laps towards the end, all in the low 1’32s. Melandri also made good progress, ending up with a time of 1’32″232, a full second better than the time he set in last week’s private test. Leon Haslam, who crashed in the morning, did not take part in the afternoon run. Checks carried out in hospital diagnosed a fractured tibia in his right leg and the BMW man is considering having a screw put in to race in a few day’s time. In the overall timesheets, Haslam was sandwiched by two more Brits, Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) in fourth and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) in sixth. Three Ducati riders filled the next three places, with Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) splitting the Effenbert Liberty Racing duo of seventh-placed Sylvain Guintoli and ninth placed Jakub Smrz. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) jumped to tenth in the afternoon session. Honda World Superbike Team rider Hiroshi Aoyama set a 1’33″479 lap time after his first real day of competition against his new peer group, good enough for 15th among the 23 riders who were on track today. Local riders Bryan Staring (Pedercini Kawasaki) and Josh Brookes (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) were 17th and 22nd respectively. WSB regular Mark Atchison was 23rd on his Grillini BMW. Supersport World Champion Chaz Davies was 20th today on his ParkinGO MTC Racing Aprilia in his first SBK test against all his new rivals. One more day of official testing remains before the start of the first race weekend of the season. Times: 1. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1’31.947; 2. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’32.132; 3. Melandri M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.232; 4. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’32.379; 5. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.397; 6. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.465; 7. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’32.768; 8. Canepa N. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’32.836; 9. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’32.848; 10. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’33.005; 11. Camier L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’33.104; 12. Fabrizio M. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1’33.141; 13. Berger M. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’33.246; 14. Giugliano D. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’33.366; 15. Aoyama H. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1’33.479; 16. Zanetti L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’33.566; etc. World Supersport Australian Broc Parkes (Honda Ten Kate) went quickest in the afternoon session with a time of 1 minute 35.412 seconds as the track warmed up but the fastest rider of the day remained Fabien Foret (Kawasaki Intermoto Step). The Frenchman’s morning time of 1 minute 35.140 kept him on the top slot. Fellow Kawasaki rider Kenan Sofuoglu (DeltaFin Lorenzini) confirmed that the ZX-6R machine will be tough to beat this year as he took the overall second place, followed by Parkes. Various PTR incarnations took the next two places, with Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) ahead of Frenchman Jules Cluzel, who is rapidly getting into the Supersport groove on the PTR Honda. Hungarian Balazs Nemeth (Racing Team Toth) took his Honda to an impressive sixth place overall, with Russian Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) also doing a good job to finish in seventh. Times: 1. Foret F. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’35.140; 2. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’35.377; 3. Parkes B. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 1’35.412; 4. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 1’35.652; 5. Cluzel J. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’36.115; 6. Nemeth B. (HUN) Honda CBR600RR 1’36.165; 7. Leonov V. (RUS) Yamaha YZF R6 1’36.740; 8. Pesek L. (CZE) Honda CBR600RR 1’36.784; 9. Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’36.924; 10. Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Triumph Daytona 675 1’37.102; etc. More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing: TEAM ALTHEA RACING BACK ON TRACK FOR THE FIRST OF TWO OFFICIAL TEST DAYS AT PHILLIP ISLAND Phillip Island (Australia), Monday 20th February 2012: having completed a three-day test session at the Phillip Island track only last week, team Althea Racing returned to the same circuit today for the final, official tests before the 2012 championship’s opening round gets underway this coming weekend. In very warm conditions (air temperature 26ËšC, track 50ËšC in the afternoon), Althea Racing’s riders Carlos Checa and Davide Giugliano took to the track this morning, ready to work with their technicians to make final preparations with their Ducati 1198 bikes. They worked mainly with the different tyres made available by Pirelli; the team wants to fully understand how the rubber behaves in these hot conditions, so as to be prepared if the track is at a similar temperature for this weekend’s races. Although the team was therefore not focusing on lap times, Checa, current SBK world champion, projected himself to the top of the timesheets, recording the fastest time of the day, a 1m31.9, during the morning’s session. The Spanish rider put in 71 laps in total and was the only rider to duck under 1m32 today, despite the 6kgs of extra weight that the Ducati machines are carrying this year in accordance with championship regulations. Checa’s new team-mate Giugliano continued to build up feeling with his Ducati while working with his squad to refine settings in readiness for his first SBK races of the 2012 season. He suffered a small crash in the afternoon session but returned to the track almost immediately; timing was unfortunate however as he fell just as his pace was beginning to pick up and so lost valuable time as a result. Making a total of 59 laps today, Davide recorded his best time during the morning, a 1m33.3, when the track was significantly cooler. Carlos Checa: “I’m pretty happy. We’re still up there with the times, though it seems difficult to improve beyond that point. Today we continued to work on set-up, with the suspension and the electronics, trying to find the best compromise when it comes to performance. Tomorrow we still have a few small things to work on and we’ll look at the tyres again of course as tyre choice for this weekend’s races will be extremely important. So tomorrow we’ll get everything in line as much as possible and then our concentration turns to the first races of the season!” Davide Giugliano: “Unfortunately I crashed at the wrong moment this afternoon. If it hadn’t been for that, I believe I’d have been able to improve on my lap time. As a result of the crash we lost valuable time sorting the bike and so my best time was that set earlier in the day. Anyway I know I can do more tomorrow. I realise I have a lot to learn, in a short space of time, but I still have high hopes.” Genesio Bevilacqua, General Manager of Althea Racing: “I’m very happy with the work completed by the team today. We concentrated on minimizing the gap, considering the extra weight that the 2012 regulation has given us. Carlos, thanks to his expert knowledge of this track, seems to be able to hold his position at the top of the timesheets today he has the fastest time with a small advantage over the competition. Davide is improving the feeling he has with his bike and hopes for a good day tomorrow and an improvement in his times. He seems happy with his bike’s potential. Tomorrow it should also be hotter and so we’ll have chance to test the tyres in preparation for a hot race day this coming Sunday.” TIMES(day one): 1. Checa (Ducati) 1m31.9; 2. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1m32.2; 3. Melandri (BMW) 1m32.2; 4. Rea (Honda) 1m32.3; 5. Haslam (BMW) 1m32.3; 6. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1m32.4; 7. Guintoli (Ducati) 1’32m7; 8. Canepa (Ducati) 1m32.8; 9. Smrz (Ducati) 1m32.8; 10. Lascorz (Kawasaki) 1m33.0 “¦ 14. Giugliano (Ducati) 1m33.3 More, from a press release issued by Team Pedercini: Team Pedercini riders David Salom and Bryan Staring started their final training for the 2012 World Superbike season at the Phillip Island circuit today, the same venue that will serve as the championship kicks off this Friday, February 24. Team Pedercini riders faced a dry track and warm temperatures today at the Australian circuit. In the morning sessions, Salom reached fourteenth place (1’33″812). Despite a small fracture in his right hand, the Spanish rider was able to complete 31 laps. Unfortunately David was suffering from a lot of pain and was forced to miss the afternoon session and rest in preparation for tomorrow’s second day of testing. Australian rider Bryan Staring completed 25 laps in the morning’s session, closing in seventeenth position (1’34″388). During the afternoon’s session, Staring was also able to improve on his best lap time with a 1’33″704, confirming his morning seventeenth place. Staring worked extremely hard today with his team and this first day of testing here in Phillip Island proved positive for him. Both Salom and Staring still have a very full work schedule to complete but are satisfied with the improvements made so far regarding the set-up of their bikes. First session : 1) Checa (Ducati) 2) Biaggi (Aprilia) 3) Rea (Honda) 4) Haslam (BMW) – 5) Sykes (Kawasaki) “¦”¦”¦. 14 Salom (Kawasaki) “¦”¦”¦ 17) Staring (Kawasaki) Second session : 1) Checa (Ducati) 2) Biaggi (Aprilia) 3) Melandri (BMW) 4) Rea (Honda) – 5) Haslam (BMW) “¦”¦”¦. 17 Staring 18) Salom (Kawasaki) David Salom: “It’s difficult to ride in these physical conditions. This morning I was able to make 31 laps but unfortunately at the moment it is impossible for me to finish more than three-four laps at a time due to the fracture in my right hand. I worked with my technicians on the bike setting and on the tyres, but I was not able to force my rhythm because of a lot of pain. In the afternoon I preferred to rest to be ready for tomorrow when I’ll be testing some new components and definitely trying to improve my race pace.” Bryan Staring: “Everything went pretty well today. It was my first time riding this bike and it seems a lot better compared with the one I used last year at Phillip Island. This morning we worked a lot on set up and this afternoon I was able to improve on my best lap time. I’m pretty happy considering that this was only the first day of testing and hopefully tomorrow we’ll make further improvement in preparation for the coming race weekend.” More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport: Phillip Island, 20th February 2012. There were mixed feelings in Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport during the first day of official testing at Phillip Island (AUS): While Marco Melandri (ITA) made good progress over the course of the day, Leon Haslam (GBR) crashed during the first session at the exit of the Phillip Island Circuit’s Swan corner. Immediately after the crash he felt pain in his feet and was unable to walk. X-ray examinations at the circuit’s medical centre indicated a fractured right ankle. Leon was taken to Casey Hospital in Berwick for further examinations. Computer tomography scans showed a fracture in his right tibia. After consulting the team doctor, Dr. Vincenzo Tota, Leon, together with the team’s management, decided to undergo surgery in Melbourne. A single screw will be inserted to fix the tibia fragment in its original place. The prognosis on what will happen after surgery is not yet known, so a decision as to whether he will compete in this weekend’s races will be made later. Leon Haslam: Bike: BMW S 1000 RR, best overall lap time: 1:32.397 “This is just a disappointing situation, as we were making good progress. Right from the start my lap times were not bad. The crash was quite a big highsider just before the start-finish-straight. I landed on my heels, and I thought I could have fractured them. The scans later showed I had fractured the end of my right tibia instead. On top of this, I broke a small bone in my left foot, but this should not be a big issue. I now shall keep my fingers crossed that the surgery goes well and I will be back on the bike very soon.” Marco Melandri: Bike: BMW S 1000 RR, best overall lap time: 1:32.232 “We made steps in the right direction today. I was not very happy about the results of last week’s test, but we analysed all the data gathered over the last couple of days. The crew worked very hard. I have the feeling that we found a way to avoid chattering and to improve my feeling for the front of the bike. I feel a lot more confident on the bike now. Still we have a long way to go. Nevertheless, I am happy as we are all working in the same direction. We are not too far from the front runners, and this has been another step forward for me.”