Qatar tests, November 28-30
Wednesday 28 November
FONSI AND YUKIO BEGIN THEIR PREPARATION FOR 2008.
 The
2007 season may have only finished just over seven weeks ago,
but Team Alstare and most of the top WSBK teams were back
in action in Qatar today. Conditions were far from ideal this
morning when strong winds gusted across the track bringing
sand and dirt from the nearby construction sites. The afternoon
was better, but most of the riders used today to either reacquaint
themselves with or get to know their bikes. Both Alstare Suzuki
Corona Extra riders Fonsi Nieto and Yukio Kagayama did just
that and only began to try some new material towards the end
of the day. With no transponders on the bikes here, all the
times are based on what each team put out. Max Neukirchner
is not taking part at these tests. A ‘gentleman’s
agreement’ between the Top Teams means that only two
riders per team are allowed to test at such a test.
Fonsi Nieto - 4th, 2:01.0
I’m pretty happy with how today went and really I spent
the time learning about my bike and also getting to know my
team properly. They are a great bunch and I’m really
looking forward to working with them. We started the day with
everything as the bike finished the 2007 season and we made
good progress throughout the morning. In the afternoon we
made some changes (exhaust and chassis) and I didn’t
get on with the bike as well. So we will look at the data
this evening and decided where to start tomorrow. One thing
that did excite me today is that I was able to pass somebody
(Haga) on the straight! It’s probably the first time
in three years that I’ve been able to do such a thing
and it made me very happy. It was very windy and dusty today,
so I hope tomorrow will be a bit better and we can carry on
the good work.
Yukio Kagayama - 6th, 2:01.9
Today I am happy because it was as much a test of my body
as the bike! And I’m happy to say that my body feels
OK after 55 laps and I didn’t have any pain. It was
very windy and that is a good test for the handling of the
bike. It was also very dusty and dirty, so I took it steadily
- I did not want to crash! When we tried a new exhaust this
afternoon, the feeling of the bike changed and we will need
to make some more adjustments to get the bike working the
way we want. We also tested quite a few tyres today - some
that we did not have time to try or use during the season
- and some were good and some not so. Tomorrow we will carry
on our work and see what we can do.
Wednesday 28 November
1 Corser (Aus-Yamaha ) 1’59.6, 2 Haga (J-Yamaha ) 2’00,
3 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati ) 2’00.6, 4 Fonsi Nieto (E- Alstare
Suzuki Corona Extra) 2’01.0, 5 Fabrizio (I-Ducati) 2’01.6,
6 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2’01.9,
7 Sofuoglu (TUR- Honda) 2’02.2
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