Day 2 – Report
Valencia, Friday 14th March 2008
MUGGERIDGE SETS RECORD TIME FOR DF RACING HONDA AT VALENCIA TEST
Record times were set in two days of official SBK testing at Valencia in preparation for the third round of the championship here on April 6th. Australian Karl Muggeridge surprisingly took the top slot on his DF Racing Honda CBR1000RR machine, leaving the unofficial circuit record at 1’34.252, a fraction quicker than the mark set yesterday by Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), who was not present today.
“This bike has got a lot of potential ” said a delighted Muggeridge, former World Supersport champion. “I didn’t go as well in race set-up but for the Spanish Round we’ll have some new electronic parts so I’m feeling confident. The DF Racing guys are doing a great job and I think we’re going to get some good results this season”.
In the absence of Ducati Xerox’s Bayliss and Fabrizio, the Ducati attack was in the hands of Xaus yesterday and Lorenzo Lanzi, who was quickest for much of today. “We sorted out the problems that slowed us at Phillip Island”, said the RG Team rider “and now we’ve got an improved engine I can be up there with the other guys.”
The Italian was followed by two Hondas of Spain’s Carlos Checa and Japan’s Ryuichi Kiyonari, both looking in good shape for the HANNspree Ten Kate team.
Three Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 machines were next up, Fonsi Nieto improving in the afternoon to slip ahead of his German team-mate Max Neukirchner, who went off in the final session, while Yukio Kagayama was eighth quickest.
Roberto Rolfo (HANNspree Honda Althea) and Makoto Tamada (Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) rounded off the top 10.
Also absent were Yamaha Motor Italia riders Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga, as well as Max Biaggi of Sterilgarda, recovering from a wrist fracture suffered in Phillip Island.
Superbike World Championship – Final Times
1.Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1’34.252;
2. Xaus R. (ESP) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1’34.265;
3. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1’34.388;
4. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1’34.493;
5. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1’34.828;
6. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’34.911;
7. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’34.984;
8. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’35.017;
9. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’35.152;
10. Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’35.581;
11. Laconi R. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’35.740;
12. Nakatomi S. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1 1’36.057;
13. Holland R. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1’36.386;
14. Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’36.441;
15. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’36.698;
16. Napoleone L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF-R1 1’37.696.
Ronald ten Kate, Team manager:
“This test has been our first real opportunity to test the new engine and chassis parts we had developed but hadn’t been able to test before. The race pace is showing to be very good at the moment. We still have some new parts to develop before the next outing but will not put too many new parts on the machine before the race. At least we can now say we are on level ground again and from the start of the raceweekend should be capable of joining the frontrunners without having to make up 1,5 or 2 seconds like we had in the first two race. I am confidently looking forward to the race here in Valencia.”
Carlos Checa:
“We’ve had a positive second day of testing here in Valencia. We have been consistent in our lap times. We’ve tried different things today, swing-arms, links and tires. We spend a lot of time on that area to find out which base setting we’ll be using here for the next race. I’m confident with the base setting, with the qualifiers we tested we experienced some chatter problems again. We come better prepared for the next race here in Valencia then we did for Qatar and Australia so I leave here with a confident feeling.”
Ryuichi Kiyonari:
“We’ve tested lots of different parts here today, different swing arm, links and brakes. The machine setting was very good today and I feel we have made some good progress. I start to understand the machine better every time I go out on the track and I am happy with the improvement of my laps compared to yesterday’s times. We’re leaving here well prepared for the Valencia race in a couple of weeks. Normally we still have some work to do on Friday before the race but with the progress we have already made here we should be capable of find the right setting straightaway.”
Kenan Sofuoglu:
“This has been the hardest test I’ve ever done. I didn’t try anything different on the bike as the bike feels good, but I just do not seem to make any progress at the moment, which is very disappointing for my team and myself. I’m going home to Turkey now and hope to be in better shape when we come back here again for the next race.”
Regis Laconi:
“We still have some work to pursue but some good goals have been reached. Today we tested new Braking’s discs and I’m satisfied of their performance. Next three weeks will be very intense as we want to solve chattering’s problem so we’ll focus on suspensions and frame’ s geometry to be ready for the 3rd round”.
Makoto Tamada:
“ We tested lot of solutions and some of them are really convincing. I liked the feeling I have with the bike on this track and I think it can be improved”.
Supersport World Championship
Two days of testing for most of the top World Supersport teams also produced some impressive performances, in particular from the Italian duo of Gianluca Nannelli (HANNspree Honda Althea) and Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha), who both set an identical quickest time of 1’37.159. The British pairing of Craig Jones (Parkalgar Racing Honda) and Jonathan Rea (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) were next up in third and fourth place.
Official test results (combined):
1. M.ROCCOLI ITA 1’37.159
2 G.NANNELLI ITA 1’37.159
3 C.JONES GBR 1’37.236
4 J. REA GBR 1’37.557
5 K. FUJIWARA JPN 1’37.572
6 B. VENEMAN NED 1’37.748
7 A. PITT AUS 1’37.787
8 C.WALKER GBR 1’37.872
9 G.GOWLAND GBR 1’37.972
10 G.VIZZIELLO ITA 1’38.031
Ronald ten Kate, Team manager:
“The results we’ve achieved here are very satisfying for the team. Both riders have proven to be capable of putting in consistent laps on a race distance, which will be important for the race here. We were faster in today’s session compared to last year’s race pace, but both riders still seem to struggle to force out that single fast lap on the qualifiers, its just not coming. We will make some small improvements on the bikes before the next race but overall we are ready and hopefully capable of bringing both riders to the podium.”
Andrew Pitt:
“Its been a good session today, unfortunately at the end of the session there was a crashed bike on the track and the marshals tried to stop me while I was on my best lap. We made an improvement with the new tyre, which we had been struggling to do earlier. The race pace is really good, I did a 16 lap run on one tire and still managed to stay in the 1’37’s until the end which shows how competitive we can be. We made a bit of progress on the qualifying, so I am happy with the results and am confidently looking forward to the next race.”
Jonathan Rea:
“We struggled quite a lot yesterday with nothing really. The bike felt really good but the lap times weren’t improving and I was beating myself up about that. Today I got the enjoyment factor installed again and rode with a smile. We had a big breakthrough with the setup today for which I want to thank my mechanics Gert and Michel. They put in a lot of work and helped me go out there today with a different attitude. Yesterday we were 1,1 seconds off the fastest lap time and today only 0.4. We managed to do a full race distance and show consistency throughout so everything is positive really and I’m leaving here with a good feeling.”
