2008 Superbike World Championship
Winter tests: Phillip Island, January 8-10
Day 1, January 8: Conditions: Dry, cloudy in the morning and
sunny in the afternoon.
TEAM ALSTARE SUZUKI START POSITIVELY.
Although the new year is only a few days old, Team Alstare
Suzuki and the rest of the top teams have already got back
to work. The team’s three riders, Yukio Kagayama, Fonsi
Nieto and Max Neukirchner, began the new season by settling
in to a good rhythm straightaway and started the work of testing
many things. At the end of the day, all three were in a positive
mood and looking forward to the second day of testing. Local
Troy Bayliss (Ducati) set the day’s fastest lap, with
an unofficial time of 1:32.6, but Yukio was only three tenths
of a second slower. Conditions today were a bit mixed, but
the forecast is for much hotter weather over the next two
days.
Yukio: 73 laps, best lap 1:32.9
For the first day, the feeling was not so bad and certainly
my body is in much better condition then it was in Qatar in
the last tests. I didn’t find it hard to get into the
1:32s this morning and then we began the testing work. We
tested many different areas - suspension, engine and electronics
and by the end of the day the rear suspension was getting
much better. All in all, I think today was quite a good day.
Fonsi: 82 laps, best lap 1:33.2
I am really happy with how today went. After the holiday it
was good to get back on the bike and straightaway I felt at
home on it. At the last tests the bike didn’t feel as
if it was my bike, but today I was happy on it right from
the start and this makes me feel very good. We tried many
different things today and we have a lot of good information
to consider. I had a very small crash, at MG corner, when
I lost the front end. It was probably because I had a new
rear tyre and suddenly I went down. But there was no injury
to me at all and I don’t think the bike was even damaged
much.
Max: 70 laps, best lap 1:35.0
Today we had some problems with the electronics and there
was a lot of work to do, but at the end of the day I was quite
happy because we had got one bike working pretty well. Then
we began the work on the other bike and that is going OK also.
My main problem today is me! I had a bit of a sore throat
and my head ached a bit, so maybe I’m getting a bit
of ‘flu or something. Because of that I found it hard
to concentrate on the bike for long periods, so I hope I will
feel better tomorrow - as I know there is a lot to do and
I want to do it!
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