Valencia tests - November 14th and 15th
Conditions: Dry, sunny
MAX IN CHARGE!.
New Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi and team
mate were in good form at Valencia, with Max officially setting
the quickest time of the two days, with a lap of 1:33.9. Yukio
ended with the third fastest lap and this was a very big achievement
as both Max and Yukio were using the new GSX-R1000 Suzukis
for the first time in earnest.
Despite having brand new bikes to work with, Max and Yukio
knuckled down to the business of starting to learn about the
new bike and its characteristics. There was masses to do,
but Max and Yukio were ably assisted by the whole Alstare
crew and the work progressed at a good rate. Conditions throughout
the two days were just about perfect for Max and Yukio, plus
the other WSBK top runners Troy Bayliss, Lorenzo Lanzi, James
Toseland, Robbie Rolfo, Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga etc.
MAX - 157 laps, best lap 1:33.9, 1st
Valencia is a very twisty track and there is not much opportunity
to catch your breath because you are always working hard.
The chicanes seem to just come one after another and although
it is not my favourite track, I enjoyed trying to make the
bike work with me round it. This championship is full of specialist
riders and I am new to it, so I know I have to adapt to the
way of riding a Superbike.
Today we had many things to test and I concentrated on two
areas - the first was to get the bike to steer into the turns
the way I wanted and be smooth and the second was to see how
the tyres behave after quite a few laps. Today I wanted to
push the bike to the maximum so that I could give lots of
information to the Japanese technicians so they they can work
well and improve the bike. I think I did that.
YUKIO -141 laps, best lap 1:34.2, 3rd
I had a small crash today when I lost the front on the brakes,
but I didn’t hurt myself, so that was OK for me! But,
there was a lot of work for my mechanics to do, and that lost
quite a bit of time. So, sorry to my mechanics for giving
them extra work. Today, I worked with the new bike and there
were many settings to try and many adjustments to make during
the day.
Later in the day, I tried a qualifying tyre but I didn’t
go any quicker then when I was on race rubber! I am pretty
satisfied with these tests and we did a lot of good work on
the new bike and gave a lot of information to the team so
that we can improve next time out.
Best lap times (over two days) on race rubber
1 MAX BIAGGI (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:33.9, 2 Lanzi
(I-Ducati) 1:34.1, 3 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona
Extra) 1:34.2, 4 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:34.2, 5 Toseland (GB-Honda)
1:34.6, 6 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 1:34.8, 7 Corser (Aus-Yamaha)
1:34.9, 8 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:35.1, 9 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:35.3,
10 Rolfo (I-Honda) 1:36.7,
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