Gain in Spain for FPR
The second day of the Superbike World Championship official
test at Valencia, Spain, today brought further encouragement
for Foggy PETRONAS Racing.
Both Steve Martin and Craig Jones were able to make in-roads
into their best laps of yesterday, while also testing new
engine specifications.
Steve finished the morning session in 10th place, having
shaved more than half a second off yesterday’s best
lap. However, an afternoon of frustrating technical hitches
prevented further progress for the Australian and he slipped
to 13th in the standings.
Superbike debutant Craig sliced more than 1.5 seconds off
his best lap around the tight and twisty circuit, while also
experimenting with new stages of engine development.
Steve said: “The morning session was
pretty positive and I managed to lap a lot quicker than last
year. Tomorrow I need to improve the handling of the bike
with the new specification camshaft, as I am having problems
wheelying out of the corners, so we will change the weight
distribution and ride heights. I want to do a long run on
race tyres tomorrow and then put some qualifiers in, as some
of the other riders have done today. But when it comes to
the race we already know that it is going to be so tight as
not to be funny!”
Craig said: “We made a lot of progress
today and I was able to take a big chunk out of my time. If
I can keep on doing that tomorrow I will end up with a decent
time. A lot of the improvement is coming from just riding
the bike and learning the track but I think I can still find
a lot of time in the set-up of the bike. I am looking forward
to going out in the morning and using the experience I have
gained today to go quicker straight away.”
Second day times, Superbike World Championship official
test, Valencia, Spain: 1 Bayliss 1:34.987; 2 Corser
1:35.571; 3 Haga 1:35.618; 4 Walker 1:35.827; 5 Kagayama 1:35.899;
6 Nieto 1:35.974; 7 Lanzi 1:36.009; 8 Muggeridge 1:36.034;
9 Xaus 1:36.175; 10 Pitt 1:36.215; 13 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS
Racing) 1:36.413; 28 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:38.759
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