2008 HANNSPREE SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP®
VALENCIA – OFFICIAL TEST - 13th and 14th MARCH
SECOND DAY
MUGGERIDGE SETS RECORD TIME FOR DF RACING HONDA AT
VALENCIA TEST
Record times were set in two days of official SBK testing
at Valencia in preparation for the third round of the championship
here on April 6th. Australian Karl Muggeridge surprisingly
took the top slot on his DF Racing Honda CBR1000RR machine,
leaving the unofficial circuit record at 1’34.252, a
fraction quicker than the mark set yesterday by Ruben Xaus
(Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati), who was not present today.
"This bike has got a lot of potential " said a
delighted Muggeridge, former World Supersport champion. “I
didn’t go as well in race set-up but for the Spanish
Round we’ll have some new electronic parts so I’m
feeling confident. The DF Racing guys are doing a great job
and I think we’re going to get some good results this
season”.
In the absence of Ducati Xerox’s Bayliss and Fabrizio,
the Ducati attack was in the hands of Xaus yesterday and Lorenzo
Lanzi, who was quickest for much of today. "We sorted
out the problems that slowed us at Phillip Island", said
the RG Team rider "and now we’ve got an improved
engine I can be up there with the other guys."
The Italian was followed by two Hondas of Spain’s Carlos
Checa and Japan’s Ryuichi Kiyonari, both looking in
good shape for the HANNspree Ten Kate team.
Three Suzuki Alstare GSX-R1000 machines were next up, Fonsi
Nieto improving in the afternoon to slip ahead of his German
team-mate Max Neukirchner, who went off in the final session,
while Yukio Kagayama was eighth quickest.
Roberto Rolfo (HANNspree Honda Althea) and Makoto Tamada
(Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse) rounded off the top 10.
Also absent were Yamaha Motor Italia riders Troy Corser and
Noriyuki Haga, as well as Max Biaggi of Sterilgarda, recovering
from a wrist fracture suffered in Phillip Island.
Superbike World Championship – Final Times
1.Muggeridge K. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1'34.252; 2. Xaus R.
(ESP) Ducati 1098 RS 08 1'34.265; 3. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati
1098 RS 08 1'34.388; 4. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1'34.493;
5. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1'34.828; 6. Nieto F.
(ESP) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1'34.911; 7. Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki
GSX-R1000 1'34.984; 8. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R1000
1'35.017; 9. Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1'35.152; 10.
Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'35.581; 11. Laconi R. (FRA)
Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'35.740; 12. Nakatomi S. (JPN) Yamaha YZF-R1
1'36.057; 13. Holland R. (AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1'36.386; 14.
Badovini A. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1'36.441; 15. Sofuoglu K.
(TUR) Honda CBR1000RR 1'36.698; 16. Napoleone L. (FRA) Yamaha
YZF-R1 1'37.696.
Supersport World Championship
Two days of testing for most of the top World Supersport
teams also produced some impressive performances, in particular
from the Italian duo of Gianluca Nannelli (HANNspree Honda
Althea) and Massimo Roccoli (Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha), who
both set an identical quickest time of 1’37.159. The
British pairing of Craig Jones (Parkalgar Racing Honda) and
Jonathan Rea (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda) were next up in third
and fourth place.
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