Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127933
ROAD RACE IRTA test in Jerez By Michael Scott Photos by Gold & Goose panish rid er Carlos Checa ended up as the fastest of the SODs durin g th e recen t three-da y IRTA tests at Jere z, while his Mo viSta r Pons teammate John Kocinski fell twice withou t injury, pla cing a close second out of the eight SO that took' part in the test. Ds Italian 125cc World Champion Valentino Rossi was the quickest of the 250cc men, beating hi s Aprilia teammates as well as all ri vals as he gets used to the bigger machine. Ch eca circulat ed thr ee-ten ths slower than his own pre viou s best lap in quali. fyin g for last year's Grand Prix at Jerez, with Kocin ski a qu a r ter of a' second dow n. But Kocins ki , w ho returns to SODs afte r winnin g t he World Su perbike Ch ampion ship las t year, escaped withou t injury, in sp ite of early reports that he'd brok en a bon e in his hand. He was not worried about the time or the crash . " It means nothin g, " h e said . "I' m happier now than 1 hav e eve r been ." Kenny Rob erts Jr. was third fas test, just ove r a second off Ch eca' s time, but ha ppy afte r selling his best-ever lime at Jerez. "We could have go t another half-secon d out of a d ifferen t gearbox," he said la te r, refl ec ting the team 's im proved op timism . "The engi ne's running cleaner and smoother, and the Du nlops have so much mor e feel tha n the Michelins that they seem to suit the bike better . Wit h the new chassis, every thing is wo rking toge ther bet ter." Kenny Roberts Sr. was also in a better mood afte r the end of the tests. "Last Year, when we started, we were almost 30km /h 08.6 mph) down. No w we're less than 10 km / h (6.2 mph) off." New rid er Ralf Waldm ann was onl y fi fth fastes t, sa n d wi chin g Sebastian Gimbert's V-twin Hond a between th e two Modenas tripl es. But it was his firsteve r ou ting on a SOD, excep t for a "fitting session" in England the week prior to the Jere z test, and he was not unhap py. "I have to learn a lot, but Kenny has already bee n very helpful, " he said . "It's d ifferent from riding a 250, but it's possrble to learn. " Du tch m an Jurgen van den Goo rbergh was sixth, but happy in spite of the lap time. "We had trou ble all three days and 1 hardl y go t thr ee laps together with the bike running right. On ly tod ay we discovered an electrical probl em , but that is (Left) Spaniard Carlos Checa rode his MoviStar Pons Honda NSR500 to the quickest time during the threeday IRTA tests at Jerez in Spain. (Below) Checa 's teammate John Kocinski was also fast, despite . crashing the bike twice. At the end of the three days, Checa was just a quarter of a second ahead of the Wor ld Superbike Champ io n.