Worx Crescent Suzuki riders Tommy Hill and Yukio Kagayama concluded their three-day British Superbike Championship pre-season test at Cartegena in Spain today having made important progress – and taking the unofficial lap record in the process. While Hill unofficially broken the lap record and set the fastest time – and with his team-mate only tenths-of-a-second behind – Team Manager Jack Valentine warns that these tests aren’t about lap times; but detailed bike-preparation in readiness for the BSB season, which gets underway at Brands Hatch in just 26-days time. The BSB test, following on from private tests at the Portimao circuit in Portugal in February, has not been without its problems: Kagayama’s bike has suffered teething problems with its new engine management system, which has limited his track time. Both riders have suffered crashes too: Hill crashed yesterday while passing another rider and Kagayama high-sided in the final session today. Both riders escaped injury and both bikes have been fully repaired. Over the three days, Hill completed 90 laps of testing, while Kagayama made 52. Tommy Hill: “The testing has been really good and I’m very happy with progress. We came here with a big list of jobs to work through and it’s been good to get through these; working with different chassis and suspension settings. The lap times have come down and now the bike is really starting to feel my own. This circuit is really tight and twisty and so I’ve been able to ride the bike in a way that’s similar to how we ride the UK circuits, so everything we’re doing here is relevant. It’s going well.” Yukio Kagayama: “It hasn’t been easy for me with the problems we’ve had, but even on my side of the garage we’ve still made good progress and the speed is there. We’ve focused on working through many settings. We need to try many settings as there are many circuits in the season, so we need many ideas, many answers so that we can always be fast. So, good progress, but still more work to do!” Jack Valentine – Team Manager: “Testing is a serious business and it’s not at all straight forward. It’s been fairly-cold here and it’s been a job for the riders to find grip, so to get the lap times they have is excellent progress. As well, this test has been organised in sessions – rather than an open pit lane – and this has given the team a good taster of the kind of approach we’ll need to take in race-qualifying under the new one-bike rule. So far, all is good.” The team had intended to conduct only three days testing at Cartegena but will now take part in the fourth and final-day of testing tomorrow, before moving onto the Guadix circuit later in the week for the final tests before the BSB season begins. More, from a press release issued by GNS Racing: SUCCESSFUL CARTAGENA TEST FOR GNS RACING Fuchs Silkolene British Supersport Championship Team GNS Racing has concluded a successful outing at Cartagena with both Sam Lowes and Paul Jordan enjoying their first Spanish test of the season. Both riders reported positivity with 19-year-old Lincoln rider Lowes lapping amongst the leading riders whilst 18-year-old Paul Jordan from Magherafelt in Northern Ireland got more laps under his belt to aid his transition to four-stroke racing as part of the Southampton-based team. Sam Lowes, #11 Team Rider: “I am very happy with the test, it was my first time at the circuit, which is very demanding and it helped me get dialled in with the bike. I’m delighted with the way we have got the bike working as well as the set up and the team are all working brilliantly. It was great to set a best time of 1:36.2 during a race simulation on the final day where all my laps were in the 36’s which showed we have good pace over the race distance already and has been a big factor which we have been working on in testing. I feel already as though we could go racing tomorrow and can’t wait for Brands although now we are heading off to Guadix where it will hopefully be sunny.” Paul Jordan, #61 Team Rider: “I am very impressed with the bike and team and everything is working really well. The Cartagena circuit is very twisty and has really showed me how I have had to change my style to the four-stroke machine and it’s starting to feel better. I improved my lap times consistently throughout and although I wasn’t pushing for out and out speed, I still managed to set a lap time well into the 1.39’s which I was happy with. I am now really looking forward to the Guadix test and hopefully some sunny weather.” Gary Stubbington, GNS Team Owner: “The riders and the bikes worked very well all test long and everyone gelled together which is fantastic. The weather conditions were not that great but we were able to get some consistent times in. The new suspension worked well and all the new Motec systems enabled the riders to get acclimatised to the bikes and it’s thanks in particular to all the sponsors and suppliers that enabled us to come to Spain with everything we needed. I’m looking forward to Guadix where we have two days of open pit lane and we will be able to do more race simulations and test other equipment we will be using in the Fuchs Silkolene British Supersport Championship.” The next test at Guadix takes place on March 9th and 10th and the final test takes place with the official BSB test day at Brands Hatch on 17th March in readiness for the first race at Brands Hatch over Easter (April 3rd to 5th). Picture attached (copyright free and courtesy of Ian Hopgood): Sam Lowes (11) and Paul Jordan (61) in action at Cartagena. ENDS 2010 British Supersport Calendar (provisional) R1 Brands Hatch 3/4/5 April R2 Thruxton 16/17/18 April R3 Oulton Park 1/2/3 May R4 Cadwell Park 21/22/23 May R5 Mallory Park 25/26/27 June R6 Knockhill 2/3/4 July R7 Snetterton 16/17/18 July R8 Brands Hatch GP 6/7/8 August R9 Cadwell Park 28/29/30 August R10 Croft 10/11/12 September R11 Silverstone GP 24/25/26 September R12 Oulton Park 8/9/10 October More, from a press release issued by Swan Honda: SUCCESSFUL TEST FOR SWAN HONDA AT CARTAGENA The Swan Honda team has been boosted by the progress made at their first major pre-season test at the Spanish circuit of Cartagena this week with both James Ellison and Stuart Easton lapping just outside the unofficial lap record. The four-day test got underway earlier this week with both riders initially using the track time as a shakedown for the Swan Honda before turning their attention to finding a strong base setting before the team move on to Guadix on Tuesday. Ellison (1m:34.5s) said: “It has been a great few days for me and it has been awesome getting back out on track on the Swan Honda. We had a long list of settings we wanted to try before we arrived and I am pleased to say that we have managed to cover everything. On the final day we have made some changes to the rear links and some minor tweaks to the electronics, but it is only fine tuning as we have managed to make some really good progress. I did my fastest lap of the test in the final session so that just shows the improvements are paying off.” Easton (1m:34.8s) said: “I am leaving this test happy with what we have been able to achieve and the progress we have made with the Swan Honda. We didn’t have ideal conditions on the final day with some light rain in the morning, but other than that it has been a really positive few days for us. We now feel that we have the engine braking control working how we need it to, which was one of our main areas to focus on, so we are pleased with that development. I am now just eager to get back out on track next week so myself and PJ (Pete Jennings) can maintain our level of progress.” Team Manager Shaun Muir concluded: “We have had a mountain of work to get through and we are exactly where we need to be with respect to the development of the electronics. We’ve purposely not chased times and whatever the boys have done has come easily. All in all we are in good shape going to Guadix.” For more information visit www.swanhonda.co.uk