SBK CORONA EXTRA SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP® PIRELLI TEST PHILLIP ISLAND 13-14-15 JANUARY PREVIEW Rome, Wednesday 10th January 2007 NEW SEASON BUILD UP INTENSIFIES With the 20th season of the World Superbike Championship about to commence at Doha, Qatar, on 24 February, the final Pirelli development test of the off-season (Phillip Island between 13 and 15 January) takes on a particular significance for all of the Development Teams. One designated development team represents each competing manufacturer, to ensure that the latest generations of Pirelli tyres are thoroughly tested before they are put into volume production. At this stage of the pre-season build up, the test is also a valuable opportunity for all the riders and teams to make firm decisions on the path of machine development and set-up for the new season, especially for those who have all-new machinery to test. BAYLISS AND CORSER ON HOME TARMAC With most Australian riders having to take a permanent base in Europe during their race careers any visit to Phillip Island is always an opportunity for them to visit family and friends – with the added benefit of knowing that their home circuit is one of the best motorcycle racing venues in the world. The leading two Aussie competitors Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) and Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) are both double SBK world champions, with Corser champion in 1996 and 2005, and Bayliss the victor in 2001 and 2006. Bayliss was fastest man in the most recent Pirelli Development Team test at Doha, but Corser is adapting well to the new challenge in his first year as a Yamaha Superbike rider, on the all-new YZF-R1. Bayliss will be joined at this test by Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) with Corser teamed-up in 2007 with the perennial SBK force, Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia). TOSELAND AND BIAGGI OUT TO SPIKE THE AUSSIE GUNS For 2004 World Champion James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and new SBK inductee Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) the Aussie duo of Bayliss and Corser will be good benchmarks to measure their overall performance by, and in testing each rider has already shown a great desire to make 2007 their year. Toseland, on a modified version of his 2006 machine, is now something of an SBK veteran, even if he is still only 26, but vastly experienced MotoGP rider Biaggi is a rookie to the SBK class in 2007. TO complicate things further, Biaggi has a new GSX-R1000 to help develop, alongside his team-mate, proven SBK race winner, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra). Toseland is joined in 2007 by the formidable talents of Italian rider, Roby Rolfo (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda). KAWASAKI DUO AIMING FOR INCREASED DYNAMISM Now a two-man team for the 2007 season, the PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse duo of Spaniard Fonsi Nieto and Frenchman Regis Laconi have already impressed on the year-old ZX-10 Kawasaki, and are looking to Phillip Island as another opportunity to turn speed into consistent speed over race distance, in readiness for round two the championship at the Aussie venue in March 2007. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP With an all new Honda CBR600RR and the lions’ share of the 2006 race wins to their credit, few expect the 2005 and 2006 World Supersport champion Sebastien Charpentier (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and multiple 2006 race winner Kenan Sofuoglu (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) to be on anything except the leading pace at PI, in what will be the new machine’s first real outing against its impressive peer group. The PI challenge will most likely come from two European-based Aussie riders, Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes, from the official Yamaha team, but you can never count out the Ducati Supersport phenomenon that is Gianluca Nannelli. The special relationship between Nannelli, his Ducati 749R and his SC Caracchi team is now legendary in World Supersport, keeping the ageing twin-cylinder 750ccc machine competitive in a way few other riders can manage. A welcome return of a full factory Kawasaki effort sees the GIL Motorsports Kawasaki squad firmly in place at Phillip Island, with their riders 2002 champion Fabien Foret and always-impressive Pere Riba on the latest spec of 600cc Kawasaki.