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/128142
Noriyukl Haga and the Aprilla were impressive, with the Japanese star posting the sixth-quickest time in his first multi-rider test on the RSV1000. claims of the engine not being inspected yet due to the team shipping out straight after the Pin tests. One breakage a day is a poor, and very un-Aprilia like, average. Haga had to sit out quite a bit of the second day, but still managed to set the fastest lap of an incredibly blustery afternoon session, and was probably the most impressive Dunlop runner until the final day, when Bostrom got up to full pace. "I had a few engine problems, but no problem for me: Haga said. "We did a lot of work on suspension setup but we need to do more work on finding an ideal riding position. It is not perfect. Here we have had some tire problems, and found no full solution. But I did 10 or so laps on two occasions, with times in the mid 1:34s, so it is not too bad." FAST GUYS The prodigal Noriyuki Haga was relatively impressive on his first proper World Superbike test for over a year, going sixth fastest, just ahead of his new Japanese buddy Hitoyasu lzutsu from the Eckl Kawasaki team a veteran of a race or two and many previous Phillip Island test outings. The last man inside a one-second gap behind Bayliss was DFX Ducati's Steve Martin, making it eight riders in the same ballpark. Only James Toseland, Alessandro Antonello and Chris Walker were farish behind the leaders, although in Walker's case he was actually in serious danger of being overhauled on the time sheets by top Supers port rider Pere Riba. Riba simply tore around Phillip Island like a deranged yellow rocket, turning in a best qualifying time on his Ten Kate Honda that was well over one-second faster than Paolo Casoli's previous World Supersport circuit best - 1:36.917. He was even fully half a second up on his teammate Fabien Foret, and .8 seconds ahead of Andrew Pitt's World Championship-winning Kawasaki. Chris Vermeulen found Van zon/ Ten Kate Honda power a bit more to his liking than his previous Castrol Honda's output, setting fourth fastest time over three days. Rookie Kawasaki World Supersport rider James Ellison was happy enough to be ahead of Honda UK squad members Karl Muggeridge and the luckless Phillip Island debutant John McGuinness, who suffered a HAGA'S TEAM painful leg and groin injury when his The two-man Ducati Infostrada team was up to full strength at Phillip Island, and stamped on all others even after a single day of competition, sitting one-two on their time sheets from first almost to last. Their dominance was assured after the Michelins proved to have a distinct advantage over the Dunlops, and Colin Edwards proved to have an engine of less heft than the Ducati riders'. Ruben Xaus continued his crashing ways, toppling over at the base of the MG turn on day one, and having a far more fulsome crash exiting Honda corner on the second day. He blamed the typically powerful winds that particularly affected day two. Unperturbed by the offs, Xaus was confident about his machine on race tires, claiming quite truthfully that he set a 1:33.3 lap time after he had Noriyuki Haga's first proper dry and sunny test on his 2002 mount started well enough, although the double Aprilia pit garage was an eerily empty place with only a single black bike in each side. The normally quite reliable Aprilia suffered two serious mechanical problems on the second day of testing, when one bike's primary drive failed, and the other broke a water pump - and thus cooked its engine after the circulation of cooling liquid was halted. A third engine failure on the final afternoon was brushed aside, with own machine ran over him after he highsided out of Honda corner. The entire World Superbike and World Supersport entourage attacks the circuit of Valencia at the end of February, for the final charge toward the start of the season on March 10. With only the Suzuki loner Gregorio Lavilla missing from Phillip Island, the numbers of factory bikes may not swell significantly, but at least the tire wars will most likely swing in another direction. Neil Hodgson rode his brand-new Testastratta at the test and said the bike has more linear throttle response than the Ducatl he rode last year. cycle n e _ S • FEBRUARY 20, 2002 17