BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX) HEADS DAY 1 OF OFFICIAL SUPERBIKE TEST IN VALENCIA Valencia (Spain), 18th March : Troy Bayliss was the front-runner for the factory Ducati Xerox Team in the first of two days testing for the World Superbike Championship regulars, excluding Honda Ten Kate, at Valencia. In glorious sunshine, the Australian rider was fastest throughout the day, recording his best lap of 1m34.482s in the cooler morning session. Team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi was second-quickest in the morning, but had a crash in the afternoon and dropped a place as Troy Corser (Yamaha) moved up to split the two Ducatis. “I did a lot of laps today in the two sessions” declared Troy, “and this morning we did really good on the race tyre and I was quite happy. This afternoon it was quite windy and the track wasn’t in such a good condition but we did a long-run anyway. The performance was better than the race last year but we weren’t completely happy with it. We’ll test a couple more tyres tomorrow to get a better idea, play with the setting a bit but overall the bike is working well. I did a 33m7s here last year and maybe I can go better than that tomorrow morning. We’ll have to wait and see but for the moment everything’s going well and it’s a nice little freshen-up for Donington.” “I set the third quickest time of the day, and the fourth in the afternoon” commented Lorenzo. “It’s not bad but to be honest I expected a bit more seeing as I had been really quick here in November. I’m still some way off those times I set then but today we tried a lot of different solutions. I had a crash at the hairpin turn 2, but it had no serious consequences. In the afternoon there was a lot of wind and we only began to lap well again towards the end of the session. Valencia is always the same, early in the afternoon the track is always a disaster!” DAY 1 TIMES : 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m34.482s; 2. Corser (Yamaha) 1m34.895s; 3. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m35.128s; 4. Biaggi (Suzuki) 1m35.203s; 5. Haga (Yamaha) 1m35.593s; 6. Nieto (Kawasaki) 1m35.607s; 7. Xaus (Ducati) 1m35.627s; 8. Polita (Suzuki) 1m35.769s; 9. Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m35.785s; 10. Laconi (Kawasaki) 1m35.785s. More, from a press release issued by FG Sport Group: BAYLISS THE MASTER BLASTER ON DAY ONE – AUSSIE RIDERS ON TOP AFTER FIRST DAY The first day of official Valencia FGSport tests was dominated from the start by the awesome combination of 2006 World Champion Troy Bayliss and his 999F07 Ducati Xerox machine. He beat the 2004 track best record with a strong 1’34.482 and was followed into the 1’34 bracket only by 2005 champ Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia), who set a 1’34.895. The fabulous weather conditions that blessed the test allowed all 22 entered riders to push hard from the morning to the afternoon session, with one more day of good weather expected. TOP SIX FEATURES TOP TALENT Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) continued his good testing from with a third best lap of the opening day, while Qatar race winner Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) worked as hard as usual to gain the fourth fastest single lap time. Perennial SBK hard charger Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) was fifth in the rankings, closely followed by the Kawasaki of local hero Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse). XAUS FAST AT HOME WITH POLITA ON THE MOVE Spanish privateer rider Ruben Xaus (Team Sterilgarda Ducati 999F06) ran out seventh fastest rider at Valencia, only two days after his wedding. A sterling performance from 22-year-old Alessandro Polita (Celani Suzuki) saw the 2006 Superstock 1000 champion end up a highly respectable eighth. Despite great pain from a recently damaged shoulder, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) was ninth fastest, with the second factory Kawasaki of Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) tenth, some 1.303 seconds down on Bayliss. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Fabien Foret (GIL Kawasaki), winner of the most recent Phillip Island race, continued his rich seam of pace at Valencia by scoring fastest time of the first day, a 1’37.556. In the morning session the clear leader was rejuvenated Honda star Katsuaki Fujiwara (Althea Honda) but his overall second place was forced on him by the sheer speed of Foret. Misano race winner in 2006, Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) was an assured third fastest, with Foret’s team-mate Pere Riba fourth, only just over half a second from Foret. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha SSP Racing) was fifth across both sessions, with his team-mate Broc Parkes just behind. Riding a 2006-spec machine, Lorenzo Alfonsi was an impressive seventh. Barry Veneman proved to be quickest Suzuki rider on day one, 12th from 24 riders, on his Pioneer Hoegee Racing GSX-R). ONE MORE DAY TO MAKE PREPARATIONS Only a single day of testing remains for the top SBK and WSS riders to make their final machine changes and set-up decisions in readiness for the next round of the championship, at Donington Park, England, on April 1. More, from a press release issued by Steve Martin’s publicist: Steve Martin Forced to Sit Out Official WSBK Test Steve Martin was forced to miss this weekend’s official WSBK test in Valencia following the DFX Honda team’s decision to pull out at the last minute. With all World Superbike teams present, Steve was eager to return to the Spanish circuit for the two day official test in order to make further in-roads to the improvements achieved with his Honda’s set-up at Phillip Island, and also prior to going into the first European round at Donington at the end of the month. Steve commented, “I’m not 100% sure of the exact reason DFX decided at last minute to not attend the test, but whatever the reason, it’s not good that we weren’t there this weekend. Partly because we really do need more testing time as we’ve still got a lot of work to do with the bike, but also, because testing along with all the other teams and riders is one of the best indicators of competitiveness and improvements in the field. We’ve now missed out on both of these opportunities which can only be a hindrance to mine and the team’s performance.” Steve returned to his European home base in Switzerland last week, where he will now continue with his training programme before travelling to the UK in nine days time for the third round of the championship. Speaking about the next round at Donington, Steve said, “I’m looking forward to going to Donington as since Phillip Island we’ve really had our thinking caps on and know the areas where we need to improve, and how to achieve that. If all those elements come online I know I’ll be able to be even closer to the front runners. “Donington is a bit like Phillip Island and it’s a great track with a lot of character. The circuit layout is good and it’s a great bike track, but also, it’s one of those circuits where you get a lot of spectators and you can really feel the support of the Brits behind you, which all adds up to making it a good race weekend. We’ve not raced there since 2001 so it will be good to go back.”