[kropotkin thinks...] - Phillip Island Kawasaki And Suzuki Test - Day 3 Times

[Ninjette Newsbot]

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After the rest of the field had already packed up at Jerez, the Kawasaki and Suzuki teams continued testing for one more day at Phillip Island, working mostly on testing new parts to be used on the 2009 versions of their respective MotoGP machines. Though everyone except for John Hopkins - who is still in pain from an injury caused at Assen - improved their times, for all except for Marco Melandri, the improvements were fairly small.

Only Melandri made a big leap, taking 0.7 seconds off his best race time, set on the Ducati. But it is clear that both Suzuki and Kawasaki have a big hill to climb if they are to be competitive. The engineers will now return to their workshops with the data collected from the tests, and prepare the 2009 versions of the machines, which are due to be unveiled at the first test of the year. For Suzuki, that will be in Sepang in early February, together with the rest of the MotoGP paddock, but Kawasaki have chosen to return to Phillip Island once again at the end of January, for another private test.

Times set on day 3:

1Loris CapirossiSuzuki1'30.9 2Chris VermeulenSuzuki1'31.1 3Marco MelandriKawasaki1'31.8 4John HopkinsKawasaki1'32.1 5Olivier JacqueKawasaki1'32.3 Fastest times set during the race in early October:

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