[sportrider - latest stories] - WSBK tests: Laverty goes quick at Phillip Island, rai

[Ninjette Newsbot]

WSBK tests: Laverty goes quick at Phillip Island, rain washes out Portimão

Rain dampened testing at the World Superbike tests at both Portimão and Phillip IslandPoor weather conditions were a factor in both final World Superbike Championship tests held before the winter break, with rain enshrouding the two-day test at the Portimão circuit in Portugal, and showers interrupting the three-day test at Phillip Island. Most of the teams opted for Portugal, with the Portimão test attended by the factory BMW Motorrad Motorsport team (with Troy Corser and new teammate Leon Haslam), the BMW Motorrad Italia squad (James Toseland), Ten Kate Honda (Jonathan Rea and Ruben Xaus), Alstare Suzuki (Michel Fabrizio) and the newly formed Pata Racing Aprilia team with Nori Haga. The factory Yamaha team (new riders Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri) and the factory Aprilia Alitalia team of Max Biaggi and Leon Camier chose to make the trek down to Australia to try for good weather.

After new WSBK World Champion Biaggi dominated the Phillip Island proceedings for the first two days, Laverty snuck in a quick lap on a soft tire on the last day before rain showers prevented Biaggi and the Aprilia team from attempting to try out some soft tire options. Laverty’s unofficial 1:31.5 lap time thus stood as the quickest of the PI test, with Biaggi’s 1:32.1 followed by Camier and Melandri both clocking similar 1:32.4 lap times. Both Camier and Melandri crashed on the second day, and both were in the long left-hander leading onto the front straight; Melandri suffered a minor finger injury, while Camier was uninjured in his fall, but then the former BSB champion hit a sea gull later on and was forced to halt testing.

Laverty and Melandri spent the three days running through various new components on both the 2010 and preliminary 2011 model superbikes, including the Öhlins TRVP25 fork (the latest MotoGP through-rod design fork similar in concept to the firm’s TTX shocks that have completely separate rebound and compression damping circuits) and a new fuel tank setup that positions the bulk of the weight closer to the stock location, instead of the previous fuel tank that ran underneath the rider’s seat. “I’m pretty pleased with the test, it’s a nice way to go into the winter break,� said Laverty. “In the three days we got a lot of laps done, the second day especially was big breakthrough. So far we’ve had two one-day tests so the second day here was where we really made the bike mine. The race times on the 2011 machine weren’t so far away from 2010 bike so we’re developing in the right direction. The new Öhlins front fork is definitely an improvement. I’m still learning this bike so we are fine tuning it as we go.�

Melandri was pleased with his progress on the R1. “It was a good test in the end, the three days were very intensive,� said the former MotoGP rider. “It was quite challenging at first working on the 2011 machine but during the second day we started to find a way and then third day we found a big improvement and found a good pace for the race. The rain meant we couldn’t find a good lap time with a soft tire but for me that wasn’t what was important here. The difference between a MotoGP bike and a superbike on this track are huge, the bike moves a lot more so the faster corners are very different but step by step it’s getting better and better. The feeling is very good, I’m very happy. The track is a difficult track so we have done well and I think we can be very strong for the first race here next year.�

Meanwhile, the teams at Portimao were hoping for some good weather during the scheduled two days, but continual rain forced most of the teams to settle for trying out wet weather setups for the majority of the test. At the end of the second day, it was Ten Kate Honda’s Xaus setting the quickest time at an unofficial 1:55.8 lap, followed by BMW’s Haslam at 1:56.1, and Rea with a 1:56.9; Fabrizio, Corser, Toseland, and Haga made up the rest of the order.




Photo Gallery: WSBK tests: Rain causes problems at both Portim?o and Phillip Island - Sport Rider Magazine


WSBK tests: Laverty goes quick at Phillip Island, rain washes out Portimão | Digg It | Add to del.icio.us


Click here for full story...