Mixed fortunes for FPR pair in Italy
Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Craig Jones and Steve Martin
experienced mixed fortunes on the final day of the second
official World Superbike test at the Italian circuit of Misano.
Craig, on his first visit to the circuit, slashed nearly
two seconds off yesterday’s time to finish the two-day
test in 25th, less than 1.5 seconds behind his Australian
team-mate.
Steve had been 10th in the opening session, just half a second
separating him from fourth place. However, an afternoon of
technical frustration brought a premature end to his test
and robbed him of the chance to perform race simulations as
he ended the test in 15th.
Troy Bayliss, with a lap of 1:33.317, again set the pace
for a near-full field, missing only James Toseland, his injured
team-mate Karl Muggeridge and Frankie Chili, who fractured
his pelvis and ribs in a high-side yesterday with a lap of
1:33.317.
Craig said: “That was probably my best day on the PETRONAS
FP1 and this test has been very positive. We have made good
progress after finding a good base set-up yesterday. The bike
is turning better than it was in Valencia and that has given
me more confidence. That is important because sometimes you
can get lost by making wholesale changes. I was able to get
down to 36.5s on race tyres and, although I probably still
need to find another 1.5 seconds, I feel I would have been
able to go some way towards that if we had had another day
here and I only used the poorer of the two qualifying tyres.
I was faster than some fairly quick guys through some sectors.
I can see the light now and hopefully it’s not too far
away.”
Steve said: “It was a very frustrating afternoon as
I missed more than half of the final session through engine
issues. It’s clear that the competition has come on
a lot so we won’t really know where we are at until
the race here. If I had been able to use another qualifier
in the afternoon I would probably have gone faster but I am
pushing right on the limit. It would have been better to have
finished the test on a more positive note but at least we
are confident we have a pretty good set-up for next week’s
race at Valencia.”
Day two times, Superbike World Championship official
test, Misano, Italy: 1 Bayliss 1:33.317; 2 Corser
1:33.824; 3 Haga 1:33.870; 4 Lanzi 1:33.933; 5 Walker 1:33.984;
6 Laconi 1:34.085; 7 Nieto 1:34.181; 8 Kagayama 1:34.266;
9 Xaus 1:34.315; 10 Pitt 1:34.469; 15 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS
Racing) 1:34.862; 23 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:1:36.135
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