Winter tests: Phillip Island, January 16th, 2008
Conditions: generally good, mostly sunny, some wind.
TEAM ALSTARE SUZUKI HAPPY WITH PROGRESS MADE
Team Alstare Suzuki finished their tests at Phillip Island
happy with the progress they made and are looking forward
to the first race in Qatar in February. All three riders have
worked hard during the tests and have given the team a lot
of information and data to analyse upon the return to the
workshops after the long trip home. The team were able to
test a variety of new parts and material during the test and
were very happy with the feedback given by the riders. After
his illness, which caused him to miss two days of the official
tests last week, Max was particularly happy to be able to
get down to work this week and showed this by putting in more
laps than either of his team mates.
Yukio (190 laps)
Generally, my feeling is that this has been a good test and
I know I put in many, many laps . The 2008 bike is not so
different to last year’s bike, but there are some new
bits and it was up to us to test many things and ideas and
give our engineers comments about which way to go. Although
this year’s bike is not a big change, the small differences
have made this a better bike, I think. We worked in all areas,
including engine, chassis and electronics and my personal
feeling is that the electronics are working very well. Concerning
the chassis, we tried many different things, but for me the
standard setting is pretty good. This means we have a good
base and that’s important.
Phillip Island is a good testing track because it has a big
variety of corners and that means that the bike has to work
very hard. My goal for 2008 is to be consistent and take as
many podiums as possible. If I do that, I am sure some race
wins will follow.
Fonsi (252 laps)
This test I have been trying many parts - in fact, just the
regular 2008 bike - and I’m happy, even though maybe
I could’ve lapped a bit quicker. But for me, this test
is not about lap times, it is about getting comfortable with
the bike and the team and then pushing hard. Remember this
is a new bike and a new team for me, so there is a lot to
learn. But I feel we have made good progress since the last
test and have been able to try many different things. At the
moment, I have a very good feeling about the engine. For me,
the front end is not quite what I would like yet, so this
is an area where we have to do more work. It affects my turning
in, but exiting corners is no problem at all. Phillip Island
is a good track for testing and we were lucky because the
weather has been pretty good and not caused any problems.
My next time on this bike will be in Qatar on the race weekend
and I am looking forward to it already.
Max (269 laps)
I guess I did quite a lot of laps, but then I had to make
up for the time I lost when I was sick last week! Being ill
last week was a big disappointment, so I was determined to
put in the laps and the track time this week. The good news
is that I was fully fit this week and ready to give everything
I had. My feeling is that, over three days, the tests have
been good. I’ve improved each day and got quicker as
well. I’ve spent most of the time trying to find a good
base set-up and getting comfortable on the bike. The bike
is new to me and so are the mechanics, so we are learning
together and it is going very well. We’ve done a lot
of work on the chassis and I feel we’ve improved it
quite a bit. For me, I need to do more work on the rear end
feeling. At the moment, I’m not sure if the problem
is the set-up or the tyre itself, but we’re not far
off and I think the bike will be ready for the first race.
I’ve had no big problems - except hitting a couple of
birds - and I’m happy that we found a good base from
which to work and that means that I’m now looking forward
to the first race.
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