RIZLA SUZUKI COMPLETE TESTS
Rizla Suzuki completed its pre-season test programme at a
cold, windy and dry Snetterton circuit in Norfolk today with
Chris Walker and Cal Crutchlow making more development progress
with their GSX-R1000 race bikes.
Stalker, returning to the circuit for the first time in seven
years, spent time reacquainting himself with Snetterton's
fast straights and turns before testing various suspension
parts and settings in the final afternoon session. Blighted
by three red flags, his time on track was limited so he opted
to continue testing parts right until the chequered flag rather
than go for an outright lap time. He finished ninth overall.
Crutchlow found a comfortable setting on his bike early in
the day and was competing for the leading positions when he
suffered a freak crash at the Russell Bend. He was unhurt
but didn't return to the track for the last 14-minutes. His
time from earlier was good enough for 10th overall.
Honda's Jonathan Rea was fastest.
Rizla Suzuki is back in action on Bank Holiday Monday, April
9th, for the first round of the 2007 British Superbike Championship
at the Brands Hatch GP circuit in Kent.
Chris Walker:
"Given the cold and windy conditions, we decided rather
than chasing lap times we'd work on developing the bike for
race conditions. On that front it's been a good day - right
at the end we made a change to the forks that made a positive
difference to the front end feel on my bike.
"Today's lap times don't show how competitive we really
are but I'm not apologising for that, we've made more progress
and that's the result we wanted. I'm excited that the next
time we are on track it's going to be the opening round. I
can't wait."
Cal Crutchlow:
"I worked through a couple of changes to the link and
added a rear thumb brake today, all of which helped to improve
my Rizla Suzuki. I was feeling good and the bike was quick,
so when I crashed on a closed throttle out of the chicane,
it was a surprise.
"I'm not hurt from the crash and frustrated as the time
sheets really don't give a true reflection of our position.
It's not the perfect way to finish our test programme but
the fact is we are faster and better than we showed today
and I'll be out to prove that at Brands Hatch on April 9th."
Simon Buckmaster - Team Manager:
"Chris got through some useful testing today but I would
have liked him to have had time to go for an outright fast
lap. He got through some good parts tests but that doesn't
mean that ninth on the time sheets is acceptable - we are
all a little disappointed.
"Cal was riding well and looked on top of his game right
up until his accident. At the point of the crash he was more
than three-quarters of a second faster than his previous best
lap and contending for the top six. We think it might have
been caused by a rapidly-cooling track and cold tyre, so he
can leave here knowing it wasn't his fault and hungry to show
what he can do at the opening round.
"Overall the team underperformed to expectation today
but we will learn from that and focus on the positives - we
learnt more about the bikes and are in good shape for the
start of the season at Brands Hatch in two weeks time."
Official Test Times: 1: Jonathan Rea (Honda)
1:05.010, 2: Leon Haslam (Ducati) +0.819, 3: Ryuichi Kiyonari
(Honda) +0.992, 4: Tommy Hill (Yamaha) +1.096, 5: Gregorio
Lavilla (Ducati) +1.155, 6: Tom Sykes (Honda) +1.376, 7: Leon
Camier (Honda) +1.463, 8: Shane Byrne (Honda) +1.667, 9: Chris
Walker (Rizla Suzuki) +1.953, 10: Cal Crutchlow (Rizla Suzuki)
+1.974.
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