FGSPORT WINTER TEST REPORT VALENCIA 12-13 March CORSER AND KAGAYAMA CONTINUE IMMACULATE TESTING FORM Suzuki Backs Up Early Season Push: Troy Corser left the final official test of the 2005 season in top position on the timesheets, closely followed home by his team-mate Yukio Kagayama. After two days of warm and dry track conditions, albeit punctuated by red flags to clear the track after numerous incidents, Corser set a 1:35.566 and Kagayama a final session 1:35.698. The last session of the four was halted with 1:53 on the clock and a trackful of riders ready to go for an improvement in their final placing. Ben Bostrom (Renegade Honda Koji) crashed without injury at the infield hairpin, and with his machine ablaze in the gravel trap and two minutes left to run before the 5pm finish, action was halted for the final time. Honda Riders Flying: In the last few minutes of track time, after a flurry of fast laps on qualifying Pirelli tyres, the 30-strong SBK entry jostled for position. Chris Vermeluen (Winston Ten Kate Honda) secured third place on the sheets, first Honda home, thanks to a 1:35.724. His team-mate and compatriot, Karl Muggeridge was a confidence-boosting fifth fastest, with both Ten Kate riders heading off back home to Australia for round two of the championship proper. Ducati Up and Down: Regis Laconi (Ducati Xerox) was fastest twin-cylinder rider, as he had been all weekend, taking fourth place overall, the last rider inside the 1’35 bracket, 1:35.881. His team-mate, reigning champ James Toseland, had a torrid time, crashing heavily on both days, once as a result of an oil leak at the fast turn one, once after passing a slower rider. Both times red flags came out to temporarily halt the track action. Battered and bruised, but fighting on, Toseland secured only 13th fastest time, with a 1:37.183. Three Tuning Forks: A three rider Yamaha layer cake was topped by the determined form of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia), sixth fastest and returning to the pace which has made him a 17-time World Superbike race winner. Immediately behind, reigning Spanish Formula Extreme champion Jose-Luis Cardoso (Yamaha DFX Extreme Sterilgarda) was seventh, with top placed Yamaha rider in the current championship table, Andrew Pitt, eighth. A tough test for Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) and Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) saw them finish only 18th and 15th respectively, in what is one of the most competitive SBK grids ever assembled. Kawasaki Top Ten, Klaffi Just Behind: PSG-1 Kawasaki rider Chris Walker stormed into the top ten, his 1:36.793 good enough for ninth while fending off the Klaffi Honda of Pierfrancesco Chili. Walker’s prowess made it five different manufacturers in the top nine places, an indication of the even spread of machine capabilities and rider talents throughout the field. The Bertocchi Kawasaki of Ivan Clementi was 14th fastest, just behind champion Toseland. Petronas Moving In the Right Direction: An outstanding top 15 finish for Steve Martin (Petronas FP-1) on day one was improved still further, with an overall 11th place a real boost for the entire Petronas team. His team-mate, Garry McCoy, was testing chassis parts for most of the test, and ended up 25th quickest. Supersport: Winston Ten Kate Honda pilot Sebastien Charpentier made perfect use of his two day testing opportunity to secure the fastest lap of the four complete WSS sessions. His best lap of 1:37.880 was set on the final day. Charpentier’s team-mate Katsuaki Fujiwara, the opening round winner in Qatar, was second quickest, with a 1:38.178. Yamaha Motor Germany pairing Broc Parkes and Kevin Curtain pushed themselves to third and fourth places, improving significantly from the first day of testing. In a day of team-mates rivalling each other for ultimate chart positions, Fabien Foret (Team Italia Megabike Honda) slotted into fifth, ahead of Michel Fabrizio. A great performance from Stiggy Motorsports rider Stefan Folkesson saw him oust the top Ducati rider, Gianluca Nannelli (Ducati SC Caracchi) for seventh place, in a field of eight. Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Ducati Selmat) fought off a viral infection to finish a disappointed 22nd out of 24 riders. The next competitive outing for the World Superbike and Supersport cohorts will be in Australia, at Phillip Island, on 1-3 April. More, from a press release issued by PSG-1 Kawasaki: Official test – PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse – positive impressions During the first day of test on the Valencia circuit the PSG-1 Kawasaki Team completed a useful work session on their bikes, helped by the good weather conditions despite the bad forecast. The technical staff and the riders started a program of work which is already showing the first results. Mauro Sanchini took the decision of making a comparative test between the Öhlins and the Bitubo suspensions. “I decided to use the Bitubo suspensions after the race in Qatar, in the past I grow up with Bitubo and together we developed a material which I know very well”. Chris Walker concentrated on the geometry of his bike getting immediately good results. “This bike is really fast and I like it, unfortunately at the moment I’m not able to exploit all its potential. We made some changes on the front part and now I look forward to making the second session”. The first session of the first test day ended with the 9th time for Mauro Sanchini and the 12th for Chris Walker. Chris didn’t want to run with the new tyre and he ended the second session in 14th position. During the second session Mauro decided to move definitely to the Bitubo suspensions on both his bikes and he did as many laps as he could in order to get confident with this new solution, ending the day in 15th position. At the end of the second day of test on the Valencia track the PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Team is satisfied of the work. Mauro and Chris were concentrated on the set up work, finding lap after lap a good feeling with their bikes, sensibly improving their times. In the afternoon both the riders did some fast lap to verify the work made during the two days, 9th time for Chris Walker (1:36:793) and 17th for Mauro Sanchini (1:37:345). Mauro Sanchini: “I preferred to concentrate my work mostly on the set up of the bike rather than on the time. This is always my philosophy for the tests. I’m satisfied, I did a lot of laps trying many solutions for the race. We must work hard but we have a high technical potential. The engine of my bike is very competitive and we are only at the first developing step. Now we have to find the right set-up but we aren’t far from the fastest”. Chris Walker: “My ZX10R is really fast and I think I will get some good satisfactions from it. I must concentrate my work on the set up and find very soon a good feeling with the bike. I’m happy to be in the top 10 positions”. More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY ON TOP! The two-day Valencia tests ended with Troy on top of the pile and happy how productive they had been. Compared to recent weather conditions both days were almost perfect, though the track was suffering from a bit of overuse by the F1 teams and the rubber laid down caused a few people problems. Troy ended with a time of 1:35.566, but narrowly missed out on a 1:35 flat in the final session. With less then five minutes of the final day remaining, Troy’s team mate Yukio Kagayama leapt up into second place. so show, that this year, the Suzuki GSX R1000 is the bike to beat. Aussie Chris Vermeulen (Honda) finished third quickest overall, with Regis Laconi (Ducati) fourth, ahead of Karl Muggeridge (Honda) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha). TROY – 1st, 1:35.566 That was just about as perfect a test as it could have been. OK, we all had some grip problems – probably down to the amount of rubber on the track put down by the F1 boys – but we tried many different things and learnt a lot. We now have some really good ideas about which directions to take and the whole team is happy. There’s a great camaraderie in the team and everybody was happy when Yukio stole second fastest time right at the end. He had been having a lot of grip problems throughout the two days and that, coupled with the fact he has only tested here once before (maybe three or fours ago) meant that he had to learn the track as well. I really wasn’t pushing hard in the tests, whereas Regis (Laconi) seemed to be riding as if it was a race! He was throwing it in here, there and everywhere trying to get the fastest time. I know that his team boss Tardozzi had a qualifying tyre ready on his bike at the end and Regis was to go out and try and beat my time, but the session was red-flagged with about three or minutes left. That meant that Regis couldn’t go out. Shame, eh? Everything these two days has been productive and positive and now I feel we’re in great shape for our next race, which happens to be Phillip Island – a place I know really well and like a lot! I’ll be aiming for two podiums, but a double win would be the icing on the cake. Overall best times and total laps for the two days 1 TROY CORSER (AUS ­ Suzuki) 1.35.566 126 laps; 2 Kagayama (J ­ Suzuki) 1.35.698 134 laps; 3 Chris Vermeulen (AUS ­ Honda) 1.35.724 126 laps; 4 Régis Laconi (I ­ Ducati) 1.35.881 126 laps; 5 Karl Muggeridge (AUS ­ Honda) 1.36.084 124 laps; 6 Noriyuki Haga (J ­ Yamaha) 1.36.347 115 laps; 7 Jose Luîs Cardoso (ESP ­Yamaha) 1.36.433 94 laps; 8 Andrew Pitt (AUS ­ Yamaha) 1.36.766 127 laps; 9 Chris Walker (GB ­ Kawasaki) 1.36.793 108 laps; 10 Pierfrancesco Chili (I ­ Honda) 1.36.613 103 laps