From a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:

After opting to miss the tests in Valencia earlier this week, the Yamaha Motor Italia squad made the short trip from their Gerno di Lesmo workshops to the Monza circuit for their final shakedown tests before travelling to Qatar for the opening round of the 2005 Superbike World Championship.

Having carried out a comprehensive testing programme at Phillip Island last month, the team spent today (Saturday) and yesterday focusing mainly on chassis settings. Based on feedback from those earlier tests, Haga’s bike featured a modified riding position with slightly revised seating position and a lowered rear ride height.

For team-mate Andrew Pitt, the test was another opportunity to rack up some kilometres on the YZF-R1. Having completed three tests on the bike to Haga’s one, the Australian is naturally feeling more at home with his machine.

The Yamaha Motor Italia squad will freight its equipment to Qatar on Monday. An official test takes place at the Losail circuit next weekend (19-20 February) with qualifying for the opening round of the championship starting on 24 February ahead of the Saturday race.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
“At Phillip Island I learned much about the R1 but some things I could not change because we did not have the parts in Australia. Everything I have asked the team to do, they have done. We were not going for fast lap times but this is not a problem because I already know the engine is very fast. We have a few small changes to try in Qatar but it is normal and I am looking forward now to the race.”

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
“It has been good to get some more time in on the bike. We’ve made a lot of progress with the bike since the first tests in Valencia. Of course, there is still some work to do but we will not be the only team to be in that situation and at least we have the advantage of having done a lot of testing. I’m going into the first race with a positive attitude. We know that if we’re not able to be right up the front in the first couple of races we’ll make sure we keep adding up the points until we get completely sorted and ready to fight for the wins.”

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator Yamaha Motor Italia)
“Today was important especially to give Nori a chance to try the changes he asked us to make to the bike. We had planned to go to Valencia on Monday and Tuesday but we changed our plans when the weather was predicted to be so bad. The two days spent here were a chance to fix a few more small problems as we want to make sure we lose as little time as possible in Qatar. We will be very busy over the next few days as we prepare for the trip, but everyone in the team is very excited about Qatar and our first race in what is a new championship for us.”