ROSSI AND EDWARDS SPEED UP IN SEPANG
 Valentino
Rossi and Colin Edwards completed a positive second day of
testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia today, both making
marked improvements to their lap times from yesterday. Rossi
topped the unofficial time sheets at the close of play and
Edwards was also over eight-tenths of a second faster than
on day one.
Rossi spent most of the day testing Michelin tyres and getting
to grips with Yamaha’s new prototype 2006-spec YZR-M1,
which he rode for the first time yesterday, before switching
back onto the 2005 bike towards the end of the day to continue
working with Michelin. Edwards also tested several tyres,
the American continuing to work exclusively on the 2005-spec
bike before he tries the new prototype tomorrow afternoon.
Rossi set a best time of 2’02.61, inside the lap record
and over a second faster than his best lap of yesterday. He
was followed by Melandri and Elias (both Honda) with Edwards
in fourth with a time of 2’02.94.
VALENTINO ROSSI – 1st, 2’02.61, 60 LAPS
“I am really happy with what we did today on the new
bike and I am feeling quite positive about it. I have a good
feeling on it and more stability than with the old M1, so
this is very encouraging considering that it’s just
the first day of work. Today we did a lot of work with Michelin
while trying to understand and gather data for the new bike.
At the end of the day I changed back to the old bike and continued
testing tyres. Yesterday the feeling was not perfect with
the 2005 bike but we changed some settings and today it began
to feel much better. We had some problems here in the race
and so it’s good to make these improvements. Tomorrow
we have some more things to try with the new bike before we
fly home for the holidays!”
COLIN EDWARDS – 4th, 2’02.94, 67 LAPS
“During my first run this morning I went over half
a second quicker than yesterday and then went even faster
later, so it was a good day. We mostly concentrated on testing
tyres in the morning and then the afternoon was spent trying
out some other stuff for Yamaha. This new style is not so
much about my position on the bike – there are small
changes to that but I think only a serious ‘Edwards
fan’ could notice – its more about my style of
controlling the bike before and during a corner. My technique
has definitely changed and it’s feeling better each
day as I get more used to it. Tomorrow I think I need to do
a long run and then I hope to get on the new bike in the afternoon.
I am really excited about trying it out; Valentino seems very
positive about it so I can’t wait to have a go myself!”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“Both riders worked a lot for Michelin today and it
was a positive day all round. Valentino made a good start
with the 2006-spec bike and Colin also continued to make improvements
to his performance, so it was another good day of testing.
Tomorrow Valentino has a few more things to do on the new
bike and then we hope to be able to give it to Colin for the
afternoon to give him a chance to make his own evaluation.”
1. Valentino Rossi - Gauloises Yamaha Team, 2'02.61
2. Marco Melandri - Fortuna Honda, 2'02.65
3. Toni Elias - Fortuna Honda, 2'02.78
4. Colin Edwards - Gauloises Yamaha Team, 2'02.94
5. Carlos Checa - Honda Pons, 2'02.96
6. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda, 2'03.05
7. John Hopkins - Suzuki, 2'03.10
8. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda, 2'03.15
9. Shinya Nakano - Kawasaki, 2'03.52
10. Casey Stoner - Honda Pons, 2'03.56
11. Chris Vermeulen - Suzuki, 2'04.50
12. Randy de Puniet - Kawasaki, 2'04.50
13. James Ellison - Yamaha Tech 3, 2'05.52
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