From a press release issued by Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha:

GAULOISES FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM RELEASE
Eastern Creek circuit, Australia
Saturday February 21 2004

CHECA REVS YAMAHA’S NEW R1 AT EASTERN CREEK

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Carlos Checa took advantage of his sojourn in Australia today when he dropped in on the World Press Test of Yamaha’s new model R1 at the Eastern Creek circuit near Sydney, Australia. The Spaniard impressed attending journalists with several speedy outings aboard the bike at the former MotoGP venue, where he last competed in the 500cc class in 1996.

The press test sees around 120 international journalists pass in and out of the Sydney area over a six-week period, testing both the new R1 and Yamaha’s XT 660R and XT 660X models. Checa arrived on the scene today directly from his arduous pre-season Yamaha MotoGP testing programme, which in 2004 has already sent him twice to the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, and in the past week to the Phillip Island circuit near Melbourne.

Checa is no stranger to Yamaha’s new R1 model, having tried it out at the bike’s launch at the French Paul Ricard circuit towards the end of 2003. He was equally delighted with the bike’s power after today’s laps, commenting, “This was a great way to have fun, especially on such a good track. I’m very impressed by this bike, the performance is good, it handles lightly and well, and is a real pleasure to ride. When the original R1 first came on the market I got one, and the performance of the R1 model has increased since then. This bike might become my number one passion outside racing! It’s not just good to ride but I really like the look of it. I’ve just moved from the north of England down to London and the weather is normally quite bad, but this is the kind of bike that even if it was too wet to ride, I would keep it in my garage and look at it every day!”

Checa will return to Australia for Yamaha Factory Racing’s next test at the Phillip Island circuit on 9,10,11 March.