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/128370
Corser and Kagayama on Top been the first time I've been able to do a lot of laps on the bike. We lost a little grip this afternoon because I think the track temperature went up a bit; but that will still be useful because it might be like that for the race here in April. Phillip Island is very different to Valencia, so I think we'll still have some work to do when we get there, but we'll have to be patient and just keep going in the right direction. Just like we've done here." His teammate and compatriot Karl Muggeridge was a confidence-boosting fifth fastest at 1:36.084, with both Ten Kate riders heading off back A fter a double act of often-epic proporI"-\tion at Qatar in round one of the World Superbike Championship, this peculiar Valencia test (which commenced after the start of the season) was something of a repeat. A double dose of readiness turned into results, as the well developed Alstare Corona Extra Suzukis lorded it over a collection of largely still-developing rival machines. Yukio Kagayama is leading the title race, at least until we reach the confines of Phillip Island for round two, but Troy Corser left the final official test of the 200S season in the top position on the timesheets - closely followed home by his teammate Kagayama. Despite two days of serious sunshine and temperatures in the 60s on occasion, the action at Valencia was punctuated by three red-flag incidents, two on the final day. The last minutes of the second day were lost forever, after a crash for Renegade Honda Koji's Ben Bostrom. He fell without injury at the infield hairpin, and with his machine ablaze in the gravel, he was startled to find that the marshals had to extract the fire extinguishers from a Jocked box! His machine - lying on its side, slowly barbecuing itself, as the rider himself walked through gasoline flames - was his lone machine in a team that is still far from ready for the 200S season. "It wasn't arm pump. it was a cramp in my forearm," Bostrom said. "I went for the brake and nothing happened, so I ran off and crashed. It's been a tough weekend again, with only one bike, especially when I blew up the Superbike-spec motor. I think the other one is a Superstock-spec one." It all happened in this last sunny session of the weekend. With Regis Laconi summoning up just a few more speed demons from the Xerox Ducati's innards, and temporarily setting the best time of the week- end, Corser immediately banged in a I:3S.S66. Kagayama, somewhat off top form until that point, ended the final session with a I:35.698, good enough for second on the sheets. "We tried different pivot positions, played around with the rear shock and the geometry, and I am happy with how it has all gone these two days," Corser said. "It went exactly how a test should go - very productive. I tried a few starts because I knew I had to work on them after Qatar. And I managed them pretty well, so I'm in good shape there also. I think I could have done a flat I:35, but I made a little mistake on my quick lap - but it doesn't matter because nobody went any quicker. I also want to congratulate Yukio for doing a good job. All weekend, he was struggling a little, but he pulled one out of the bag right at the end, and that was a hard thing to do. It's great to leave a test with the top two times and also because of all the good things we found out here. Now we are in a good position for our next race in Phillip Island for sure." The early finish had many riders chomping at the bit in frustration, as there was barely enough time to move themselves up the order. Nonetheless, in the last few minutes of track time, after a flurry of fast laps on qualifying Pirelli rears, almost the whole Superbike entry list jostled for their pride, with only five not bettering their previous quickest marks. Top Honda rider of 2004, Winston Ten Kate Honda Chris Vermeulen, secured third place on the sheets, thanks to a 1:35.724, which leapfrogged Laconi. "We've been trying a lot of different things this weekend, one of which has been the slipper clutch," Vermeulen said. "I like it a lot but it would be good to still have a little more con- with Bostrom's late fireball, it made for an unwanted third time of action being stopped. Battered and bruised, but fighting on, Toseland secured only 13th-fastest time, with a 1:37.183. "Today, we set off pretty good," Toseland said. "Got down to some decent times, but unfortunately we had an oil leak, and it flicked me off fast again - which makes it two crashes in two days that were not my fault. I banged my head badly, and so I'm sitting here wondering what went wrong. We got back on this afternoon, and on race tires we are more or less as quick as everybody with low 37s, which is qUite good. We put a qualifying tire on at the end, but then there was an inferno that brought the red flags out just as I started my last lap, and that was it. Everybody had done theirs by then, so it put me in 13th, just like in Qatar. Unlucky for me at the moment, but it can't last forever. I'm as fast as anyone on race tires, and I promise that you won't see me in 13th again this year." A three-rider Yamaha challenge in the later stages of the weekend was led by Yamaha Motor ltalia's Noriyuki Haga, who home to Australia for made friends with a new exhaust system round two of the championship proper. At Phillip Island, each should be a force to reckon with, especially on bikes, which were still and ignition and induction mods and thus improved to sixth fastest. Immediately behind him, after a generally lackluster dis- as fast as most around. play at his home circuit, was reigning Laconi was the fastest twin-cylinder rider, as he had been all weekend, taking fourthplace overall with a I:35.88 I. "I am quite pleased with what we did in these past two days, because we did a lot of laps and everything we set out to do," Laconi said. "We worked a lot on my starts, because Spanish Formula Xtreme Champion, Yamaha DFX Extreme Sterilgarda's JoseLuis Cardoso. The experienced Spaniard was therefore just ahead of Andrew Pitt, who was eighth. Pitt's machine's syncopated sound at low revs brought many to believe we have to find the right configuration to altered timing on the RI - to "big-bang" it to help with corner exit, allowing a better cor- start better. I normally don't start badly, but in Qatar they were not so good. Here we did well, but it's easy in testing; racing is another thing. In the afternoon, we found it difficuitto improve our times. but what consoles me is that there were no riders who did more than seven or eight laps in succession. We did 12 in a long run twice with the same tire, at around low 37s, which is quite slow here. It's going to be a tough race for that reason when we come back here in April. All things considered. we are not that far from the top, so I that his team was experimenting with ner entry to boot. It wasn't the case, according to team boss Maio Meregalli. Claiming it was only the exhaust mods at work on the ears at low revs, others opined that if it was not an altered firing order, then they were adopting some form of rev control at low revs to clean up the RI's notoriously snatching off throttle response when the bike is at full lean. The bike simply sounded unbalanced at low revs screamed like a banshee at high revs. am quite satisfied." In a definite role reversal from 2004, he is the one posting decent times and riding hard without crashing much, but Toseland was in deep despair on the track, stoic as ever while off. Toseland crashed heavily on both days, once after passing a slower rider, and getting off line, once as a result of an oil leak at the fast turn one. Both trol in certain sections of the circuit here. times, red flags came Overall, we've made some good progress, and apart from the first round in Qatar, this has out to temporarily halt 12 MARCH 23, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS the track action, and Regis Laconi again put his Ducati up there with the two Suzukis. yet