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/128145
attendance, multiple crashers such as Ruben Xaus and James Toseland included in ttie mix. It also saw the top riders setting full-distance testing times, on their Dunlop, Michelin and Pirelli tires, all of which augur wE}ll for race records to be broken. Sheer numbers down, but speeds up. Even the four-cylinder riders were in the same ballpark as the twins, with Kawasaki rider Hitoyasu lzutsu finishing the tests sixth fastest, and in a relatively competitive fashion with a 1:35.169. New Alstare Suzuki-signing Gregorio Lavilla put in a best of 1:35.584. Even Chris Walker, unable to blink his frozen left eye after his bout of Bell's Palsy, was finding his form again, despite ending 15th fastest overall. Not all the factory runners were in such reasonable positions, with Peter Goddard comprehensively outpaced on his underdeveloped and outgunned Benelli Tornado triple. Still too heavy, underfunded, and unproven, the Benelli is not going to be a factor anytime soon. Hodgson worked his way to top privateer slot, although he was somewhat miffed not to be in with the works men on his fast HM Plant Ducati. "We spent a lot of time milling through thjngs, trying to find the best setup," Hodgson said. "We had problems with all the things in the setup at one stage, but we are still about three-quarters of a second from [Troy) Bayliss' best time, and that's a lot in racing. The most pleasing thing is that I managed to pass [Ben] Bostrom properly on the straight for the first time ever, so the bike isn't slow. I just wish I had managed to do that more often last year." Lavilla, the hometown favorite, was faster than the man he replaced in the Alstare Suzuki camp, Chili, making him the happiest Spaniard in the field, especially after Xaus kept leaping off his Ducati with customary vigor and frequency. Xaus knows not why, either. "I'm pretty happy about the times I recorded around here, but we have to find out why I'm falling, because I don't really have any explanation for it," Xaus said. "Maybe the track just doesn't suit my style of riding, because I wasn't pushing that hard and my times came easily. I was one of the fastest today on race tires, but I didn't really get a chance to go for a quick qualifying time." So Lavilla may not have been the fastest Spaniard, but he was the one staying rubber-side down. "We did a very good job with setup today, and I am very pleased because we did a 1:35.5, which is a second and a half faster than the bike went last year," Lavilla said. Lucio Pedercini, the third private Ducati rider in the top 10, performed with consistency and speed over all three days, and just edged James Toseland out into 11th. (From seventh to 14th, seven riders were on private Ducatis, proving that the new customer Testastretta ain't no slouch, and it has become the benchmark by which even the four-cylinder factory bikes must be judged.) Steve Martin and his DFX Pirelli Ducati could not improve on his times from the second day, and thus was 12th on the final sheets. Behind was the third local hero, Juan Borja, and then Marco Borciani and the aforementioned Walker. Were there real race points up for grabs, Walker would have scored the final one. Broc Parkes, down as a Supersport rider at one time, was 16th on his NCR Duke, and he did better than former Aprilia factory part-timer and fulltime test rider Alessandro Antonello. Serafino Foti held off the Kawasaki Bertocchi pairing of Ivano Clementi and Mauro Sanchini, the last mentioned finishing 20th out of 25. A despondent Goddard was .21st, just ahead of Mark Heckles, the European Superstock Brands Hatch race winner in 2001, who rode a virtual road-bike Rumi VTR for a single day. Bertrand Stey, Thierry Mullot and Vann Gyger made up the quartercentury of superbike riders at Valencia, the last-named more than six seconds off the pace of Bayliss. Fabien Foret, the fastest World Supersport rider in the class, would have been the 19th fastest in the Superbike classification, continuing the Ten Kate Team's incredible run of preseason speed. Despite a big crash earlier in the final day, Foret whipped his Pirellishod Honda to a 1:37.794, 1.3 seconds inside the existing Supersport qualifying record, and well over two seconds inside the race lap record of Ben Bostrom rode his Dunlop-elad factory Ducatl to second on the time sheets. Noriyukl Haga (41) continues to impress in his first rides on the factory Aprilia. Here he leads Bayliss at the Valencia test In Spain. eye' • n _ _ os • MARCH 13,2002 33